Written In sand
by Dying Kitty
Summary: Sakura Haruno was living a normal 17 year old high school life, but between new and old boyfriends, weird floating sand and being abducted, Sakura isn't sure she can call her life normal anymore. Sakura/Gaara fic, but with other pairing for sweetness. Rated M for sexual themes, violence and language.
1. New Kid

_**So, this is my second attempt at a fan-fic. **(My first not currently on site - being updated - slowly)  
A while ago i found myself obessed with the coupling of **Sakura and Gaara** and began writing this._

_The first few chapters have been up on Deviant Art for a while._

_Like my other fan-fic (watching stars) it does start off with pretty short chapters and although in that fic they didn't get that much longer, they will in this one. How do i know? I just wrote a chapter about a 1/3 longer than this chapter and i'm pretty sure they'll only get longer._

**_Anyway. Enjoy and please comment at the end of the chapter. _**

**_Much Love- Kitty xx_**

_**Oh**...and i **did **own Naruto once upon a time...but then i woke up...and cried. :(_

_(__**Slight warning- If you didn't read the summary thing.  
This has themes of;  
Violence  
Sex  
Rape  
and a hell of a lot of other stuff- **i'll add later...once i write it :S  
_**_If you have problems with these please don't read it.  
If you read and you don't like it, don't complain. It was your choice to read)._**

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_Bi bi bi beep!!_

_Bi bi bi beep!!_

"Ugh... damn alarm!" A single, pale arm slithered out from the confinements of the deep red bed covers and made it's way to the bedside table where a hand fumbled around for the offending object. Once the hand eventually grasped the still beeping alarm it hurled it across the room, where it clanged against the wall before connecting with the head of the half-asleep room mate, who yelped loudly. The owner of the hand which threw the irritating -but defenceless- alarm clock pulled the covers from over her head, revealing ruffled baby pink locks which framed an innocent looking face with bright, emerald green, eyes. She looked across the room to see her room mate rubbing gently at where the alarm had hit her.

"Oh, Hinata, I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, somewhat sleepily, to which she received a glare. Only she ever saw the non-shy side to her friend.

"You say that _every_day, right after you launch that thing at me! I'm going to nail it down!"

The pink haired girl pushed her covers back and stretched before stumbling out of her bed and making her way to the bathroom, grabbing some clothes from her dresser as she passed it. She emerged 15 minutes later, fully dressed in her favourite black baggy jeans and a black tank top with an 'evil' bunny on the front. Her hair had been tamed and was now tangle free, running to her mid-back without a single kink or curl and her vibrant green eyes had been framed in black eye-liner, making them stand out even more. She grabbed her bag from the the floor and then walked into their dorm living area where she began stuffing her bag with her class text books before sitting and waiting for her friend.

Soon, Hinata reappeared wearing tight black jeans and a dark blue spaghetti top. She had left her dark indigo hair down as usual. Her long bangs and fringe framing her unusual pale silver eyes. She picked up her already packed bag and smiled at her friend. "Ready Sakura?" The pinkette nodded.

"Yep, all done." Hinata suddenly found herself being almost dragged from their second floor dorm room, down the stairs and towards the main school building by her pink haired friend who seemed more the determined not to be late for _once_ in her school life. Either that or Tsunade, the head of the school, had finally found a threat that had some effect on Sakura. By some wild miracle, the two arrived outside of their school building five minutes early. They walked together through the corridors, since their first class was the same.

"Hey, Sakura," Hinata started "Did you hear about the new boy joining the school today?" Sakura frowned in thought before nodding slightly.

"Yeh, I think I remember someone mentioning it, why?"

"Just wondering what he's going to be like." Hinata answered. The pinkette sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Probably like 97 percent of the school. Cocky, self centred and annoying." Hinata giggled at her friend. She was right though. Except from a few people in the school a lot of the students thought they were above everyone else and liked to prance around like kings and queens. Grabbing her friend by the arm, the dark haired girl began pulling her towards their first class, unaware that they were being watched by two sea foam eyes from the principals office.

* * *

"I'm sure that your brother will enjoy being at this school very much." Exclaimed the overly cheery principal to her current guests. Really all she wanted to do was get her sake out of the draw and spend the day drinking and playing in the online casinos. She spun her chair slightly to face toward the boy standing at the window, looking out at the students as they walked into the school. "So, young man, do you have any questions about Konoha High?" She asked. The male seemed to ignore her until she heard a small 'hn' which she decided to take as a no.

She turned back to the blond woman and the tattooed man sat in front of her desk. The man looked rather intimidating with his facial tattoos but he almost constantly wore a wide grin, only dropping it when he cast glances to either his brother by the window or his sister next to him. The woman looked fairly normal, ignoring her four spiky pigtails and the large fan she repeatedly opened and closed. The blond was pleasant enough but looked like she could pack a punch when she wanted.

"Well, I guess I just need to you finish off these forms with your signatures and then I can show your brother where his first class is. I'm sure he'll make friends soon enough." The two in front of her cast glances over at the red head by the window before picking up the pens and squiggling away on the necessary lines. "Right then, time for classes" Tsunade smiled, getting up from her chair and walking towards the door and allowing the older male and female to leave before looking over at the new student. "If you'd follow me please."

* * *

"Whoop! I'm not late!" Celebrated a rather energetic Sakura as she walked into her class, which was practically empty as most people arrived just as the lesson started. Beside her, Hinata sighed and put her hands on her friends shoulders to stop her bouncing around.

"Do you have to make an idiot out of yourself, we've only just got here Saku." she muttered, glad she didn't have to calm her friend in front of a full class of people. Sakura was the only one she felt comfortable enough around to act normal, even her close cousin had to cope with her stuttering.

"Aww, evil Hinata! I'm not being an idiot, am I Tenten?" she addressed a dark haired girl who was busy engraving something in the desk with a sharp looking penknife, less than interested in what her friend was whining about.

"If you say so..." the girl replied, not looking up at the two girls as they took their seats at either side of her. She noticed that Sakura wasn't late for once, but didn't care to ask how or why. She had almost finished what she was carving into her desk when a confident, snobby voice sounded from some where in front of of the three's desks.

"Oh my, what on _earth_ has the cat dragged in today, hmm forehead?" the girl sneered "I do hope it isn't diseased!" Tenten contemplated removing the girls tongue since she had done carving but the pinkette had made it clear that Ino was her problem.

Ino and Sakura _had_ been friends. Very close friends in fact, right up until Ino decided it would be a good idea to sleep with the pinkettes boyfriend and then proceed to take him from her entirely. Since then, Ino had become one of those girl who wore far too little clothing and_ tried_ to make up for it by plastering themselves in make-up. You didn't often find her without her two 'friends', the 'Ino-wannabes', Hitomi and Yukina, who had both bleached their hair blond in order to be more like Ino.

"Apparently it dragged _you_ in Ino-pig." Sakura replied from behind her desk where she was gripping her chair in order to avoid strangling the blond girl. "And judging by all that crap on your face, you're trying to hide some rancid disease... I suggest you go and tell your beloved _Sasuke_ and make sure he hasn't caught it from you." She frowned as if in thought before glaring at Ino. "Oh wait, I forgot, he fucked off with some other girl. Didn't he _Ino._" She smiled in victory at the other girl who didn't have chance to retort and relieve the anger that was evident on her face, as the teacher walked in, reading a book with an orange cover that was 'not' a porn book.

"Ino and... clone things, sit down so I can introduce the new student." He ordered, not lifting his eyes from his book. The three girls walked to their desks, Ino grumbling something about 'Mr Hatake' and 'usually late' and 'damn new kids'. Once they, and everyone else, had made their way to their seats and settled down, the silver haired man reluctantly placed a book mark in his book and placed it in his desk draw before walking over to the door and opening it, waving a signal for someone to come in before disappearing into the corridor.

A few seconds later a tallish, slender boy with messy blood red hair, that seemed as surprisingly natural as Sakura's own pink locks, entered the room. Though he was thin, he was well built, judging by the muscles on his arms and the well defined chest and stomach that showed through his tight black t-shirt. His height was increased by the large, metal clad, boots that were almost entirely hidden from view by the black baggy jeans that were slung low on his hips, held up by a dark red belt. He had a black tench coat slung over the back of his shoulder, prevented from falling by two fingers hooked under it's collar. The red head was currently glaring at the classroom through pale green eyes, rimmed in thick black eye liner. Sakura swooned silently as she looked at the boy, taking as many mental pictures as possible.

The entire room watched in silence as the boy's hard eyes moved across each person in the room, stopping when green eyes met green eyes. It took the pinkette a few seconds to realise he was staring directly at her at which point she 'eeped' and diverted her eyes to her desk, missing the almost invisible smirk that slipped onto the new students face.

"Oh. My. God! Another _freak_!" Cried the unmistakable voice of Ino from across the room, causing a few people to laugh – namely those with a god complex. The red head said nothing, deciding a harsh glare was enough to keep her and anyone else quiet. He was proven to be correct when Ino ducked down in her seat to avoid his gaze and the room returned to silence with no one else attempting to insult him.

The classroom door opened and Kakashi re-entered the room, glancing round in wonder at the silence. He slowly walked up the to new student. "Yo, I'm Kakashi, I'm your teacher first period on Thursdays." The red head looked and him and nodded slightly, which the silver haired man took as 'ok'. "Kids," he addressed the class, "this is Gaara. Obviously he's the new student so do _try_ and be nice... and don't do anything too idiotic." He said something quietly to the read head before pointed vaguely in the direction of the a free seat in the class. Gaara nodded again and began walking up the stairs to his appointed seat.

It was around this time that Sakura realised that the only free seat in the class was to the right of her, which meant she'd be sitting next to the incredibly hot new boy for the rest of the school term. She could have swore she heard someone screaming 'oh my god' inside her head, but dismissed it as she kept her eyes glued to the desk, still unaware of the smirk on the red head's face.

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This is the new version of this chapter. I've done a bit of updating :)

Made it longer and stuff

Please review darlings.


	2. Don't Faint

**...read away and don't forget to comment at the end, lest i send Ino to irritate you to death.**

**Much Love- Kitty xx**

_Sadly...i do not own Naruto. It is a sad day indeed._

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First period had been in progress for roughly thirty minutes. So said the clock on the wall above the white board that Sakura was wanting to stamp on. For the pinkette, those thirty minutes felt akin to an eternity spent being brutally tortured in hell. The reason being that she had spent said thirty minutes glancing quickly at the clock in between glaring at her desk and trying to keep her mind focused on what Kakashi was talking about and jotting down the occasional note or two. All of which was done whilst desperately trying to ignore the red head sat next to her, who she just _knew_ was watching her every move- if the tingling of skin and hairs of the back of her neck were anything to go by.

Another glance at the clock. All but a minute had passed. _'Another hour... oh help.' _she thought, as once again she felt the sensation of eyes floating across her. She held back the need to shiver, instead sending the desk a more heated glare. Not that it was working. She was getting closer and closer to sending her glare-of-death at the new student and was grateful when she was stopped from doing so by her friend giving her a sharp nudge.

"Blue text book, page 210, questions 1 to 8." Said Tenten before beginning to scribble words down on her notebook. Sakura sighed in relief and whispered her thanks to her friend. It wasn't the first time she had saved her from the embarrassment of asking the teacher what she was meant to be doing. The pinkette reached down into her bag and pulled out the relevant text book, opening to the correct page and setting in on her desk.

She watched out of the corner of her emerald eyes as Gaara did the same. Only, rather than putting his book on the table, he lent back in his seat, hitched his knees up against the front of the desk and rested the book against his knees. She was about to reluctantly ask him if he knew what he was doing when she almost jumped out her her chair in surprise as Gaara's pen began writing on it's own, darting back and fourth across the paper leaving a trail of neat, old style lettering that formed words.

Upon closer inspection, or as close as she could look without it being as obvious as the difference between day and night, she realised that no, the pen wasn't possessed. Instead, it was being held and controlled by a small, almost invisible swirl of sand. Amazed, she quickly looked around the class to see if anyone else had noticed and found that they were all quite busy working away, as oblivious to the sand as she was to her lack of answers. Ensuring her eyes weren't deceiving her, she looked back to the red head desk, staring as the sand continued to dance with the pen across the page.

Her staring was interrupted when the pinkette felt something tap twice against the back of her hand. Instinctively she looked down and was forced to stifle a yelp when she found another small cloud of sand holding her pen next to her hand as if for her to take it. To shocked to think first, she spun her head to look at she boy beside her to be met with a small amused smirk before he returned to his book.

Her mind unable to form anything even reasonably coherent, she slowly turned back to her own desk to find the sand gone and her pen still on the table. Just to be sure, she stuck out one finger and gently prodded the pen, making in wobble slightly before returning to a standstill. Satisfied that there was no weird floating sand about the attack her, she shuffled to the left hand side of her chair in a bit to get as far away from the new student as possible before picking up her pen and beginning to scrawl answers on her own sheet of paper, only glancing at Tenten's work once or twice and occasionally feeling Gaara's eyes on her.

* * *

After what she determined to feel like forever five times repeated, the sound of the beloved end-of-class bell finally echoed across the school, the signal for both teacher and student alike to run from the classroom before they went insane. More than ready to welcome the twenty minute break with open and loving arms, Sakura swept her things into her bag, told Hinata and Tenten to meet her by the tree outside and darted for the door before anything else even remotely weird could happen to her.

Arriving at her locker before most people had even left their classrooms, she quickly jammed her key into the lock, empted her bag of her now not needed books and replaced than with the things for her next lesson. She took a moment to breathe and to think about whether or not she should mention the sand to Hinata. After a minute or two and deciding that no, she didn't want to appear insane to her friend, Sakura shut her locker, removed the key and setting off towards the exit door closest to the tree she was to meet her friends at.

Stepping out into the bright sunshine, despite it being autumn, she shaded her eyes with her hand and looked around. There were a few students sat about on the grass, but the spot under the shade of the tree was free and so she made her way over and sat down to wait for her friends. Hinata and Tenten had been unlucky when given lockers and had to walk to the other side of the school, even though none of their lessons were over there. Sakura, on the other hand, had been lucky.

After five minuted or so, Hinata emerged from the same door as Sakura had and quickly jogged over to her friend who by this time was somewhere in between awake and asleep. In her dozing she didn't notice her friend approaching.

"Hey, Sakura! I told you to go to bed earlier!" Said the dark haired girl, smiling a little. She had tried to get her friend in bed earlier, since she was always tired at school, but had failed. Sakura could be incredibly stubborn when watching something on TV.

"Nhmm... Wha- oh hey Hina." The pinkette mumbled, straightening up from her position against the tree. "Where's Tenten?" she asked, now being awake enough to notice the absence of her other friend.

"We bumped into Neji. He stole away with her saying something about 'martial arts'." Hinata giggled a little and rolled her eyes. The entire school knew that the Hyuga male had a crush on the

knife lover and vice versa, but they were both too stubborn to admit it to each other. "Anyway, what do you think to the new guy?"

Sakura struggled against blushing, remembering her thoughts on him _before_ the sand incident. Instead of answering with words, she simply shrugged. Hoping she would look disinterested.

"You don't think he's cute?" Hinata continued.

"Ugh, maybe a little. He's nothing special though." Ok, it was a lie. The voice inside her head was beating her for it, but she just wanted her friend to drop the subject.

"Oh, sure. You said Sasuke was 'special'." The dark haired girl wasn't entirely sure why she brought 'The Bastard' up but regretted in when her friend sent her a rather dark glare. "Ok, sorry. But didn't you notice how he was watching you?" Sakura held back a groan and her friends persistence.

"Hina, I have _natural pink_ hair. Lots of people look at me."

"I suppose." Sakura hid a smile at her friends defeat.

"Anyway, since we have no more lessons today, which is appalling if you ask me, where are we meeting at the end of the day?" Despite being with Hinata in most of her lessons throughout the week, on a Thursday the lessons in which she was without her friend joined forces and she had to endure three lessons alone. Well, not alone. She had Neji in one, Tenten and Naruto in another and the two boys she had been sat between in her last class Shikamaru, who allowed her to copy notes and Sai who spent the majority of the class doodling on Sakura's arm... and then copying Shikamaru's notes from Sakura.

"Well... I... Naruto..." Hinata was cut off from the attempts at making a sentence by her friend squealing.

"Did you ask him?" She asked, watching her friend blush uncontrollably.

"He...asked me."

"Really? Oh, Hina, that's brilliant!" She squealed again and practically jumped on her friend who giggled, still blushing.

"I know, but I almost fainted in the hall!" The Hyuga admitted. She'd secretly liked the blonde idiot for over a year but was always too shy to admit it. She guessed Sakura had something to do with him asking her for a date.

Before Sakura could start asking questions the bell rang again and the two girls got up, slinging their bags over their shoulders. Sakura gave her friend a hug and demanded to know everything about the date once she got back to the dorm before starting off towards her next lesson, praying, to any god that would listen, for Gaara not to be in any more of her classes.

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OK...I'm amazed at the shortness myself...and i wrote it. I guess i was tired that night. Oh well.

**Please Review. Thankies! **


	3. Unexpected Kiss

**Yay, updated. Always a good thing. I re-read my first few chapters and wondered if i'd actually written them...and re-did them. =]  
So...chapters 1 2 and 3 are all shiney and new and updated xD**

**Much love- Kitty.x.**

**Oh...and review! =]**

* * *

Finally, Sakura was seated in her last lesson of the day. As it was, all her hoping, praying and outright begging to all the gods that was listen was a waste of time since Gaara just so happened to be in every-single-one of her classes. All of them. The only good thing to have happened during the day was that gym was cancelled, meaning she didn't have to go through the embarrassment of once again donning the ludicrous sport 'uniform' of a red spaghetti top and black shot-_short_-shorts – and how very glad she was at having avoided that particular disaster with the new boy around.

Looking down a few rows down from herself and a little to the right, she caught sight of the blood red hair that stood out amongst the more normal hair colours and indicated Gaara's whereabouts. It was the first lesson in which he hadn't managed to appear in a seat near her and she could see that he was writing with his hand rather than his sand, as he had since first lesson. She wondered why he wasn't bothered about her seeing, but told herself she didn't care and began copying down what the teacher was writing on the board.

"Hey, Sakura."

She quickly finished the part she was writing and turned to the boy next to her, who happened to be Hinata's cousin and shared their families unusual silver-white eyes. His hair, however, was a dark brown and reached his middle back which he wore in a low, loose pony-tail. He was usually quiet but not in the same way as Hinata, she was shy while he just didn't like talking unless he wanted to know something.

"Yes, Neji?" she replied, wondering what he wanted to know about Hinata now, since that was the reason he usually spoke to her. She often thought he might as well as be her father with how much he asked about the girl and checked up on her.

"Who's the new guy?" He nodded his head in Gaara's direction. Sakura blinked, her mind struggling to comprehend that he wanted to know something non-Hinata related.

"Oh..." she started "He's called Gaara, that's all I know."

"Hm..."

"Why?" she asked.

"No reason" He replied, but she could tell by the way he was still watching the red head, as though he was trying to work something out, that there was something.

"If you say so, Neji"

She gave a final glance to the red head, who she hadn't noticed occasionally turning slightly and watching her, before focussing back on her work waiting for the day to end. In doing this she also failed to notice the dark haired boy watching her from the opposite side of the class room.

* * *

Unfortunately for her, Sakura was the last to finally leave the classroom after the bell rang, since her teacher decided to keep her back for twenty long minutes to discuss Sakura's lack of work. Needless to say, her excuse of having a headache gained her a rather sceptical look from her teacher, but she couldn't exactly say she'd been too busy watching the new kid to pay attention to what the teacher was doing. After being released from the evil clutches of her teacher she quickly dumped everything but her homework in her locker and set off in the direction of the school exit that was closest to her dorm.

Winter was nearing and so when she stepped outside she found that the bright sunshine that had warmed the earth earlier in the day was getting lower in the sky and taking with it the natural light and warmth. Not wanting to be outside for too long her swiftly made her was down the path and up the concrete stairs at the side of the building, leading to her second floor double dorm.

Fiddling with her keys, anxious to get inside, she managed to drop the books she had been carrying in her arms an they scattered across the floor, one of them opening and a few loose sheets making a run for freedom with the wind. She cursed before successfully ramming the right key in the door and unlocking it. Looking down to pick up her dropped items she was rather surprised to see that they weren't there... and neither were the sheets that had drifted down the corridor. She stood for a second, a puzzled look across her face, trying to work out where they could have possibly gone when she herd a noise behind her.

Spinning round she found her books right in front of her, all together and floating... about 3 feet of the ground, on what appeared to be a thin platform of sand. On the opposite side of the corridor stood Gaara, his hair, eye liner and long black coat making him look all the more demonic in the fading sunlight and she unconsciously took a small step backwards closer to her unlocked door.

"Erm...hi?" her nerves broke through into her voice and a small smirk appeared on his face. He didn't reply. "Why... are you here?" she asked, managing to steady her voice although she was still set to dive into her dorm. He remained silent but his eyes flicked to the books that were still hovering in front of her which she was reluctant to take. "...what?" she asked. He was standing in front of her, staring at her, holding her books with _sand_ and not talking. It was just plain irritating and she was getting annoyed. "Do you know how to talk!?"

"Hn."

_'Hn? What the fuck does 'hn' mean?!"_ she thought, glaring across at the red head. "Oh, forget it!" She grabbed her books from the sand, momentarily forgetting her concerns over the sand and opened her door before stepping inside. The heat rushing from the dorm out of the door warmed her slightly but she couldn't wait to get in properly, get a cup of hot chocolate and ignore the world.

Throwing her books and bag down on the floor just inside the dorm she turned to shut the door only to find that the red head had moved significantly closer, now standing practically _in_ her doorway – if she'd have tried closing it she probably would have failed. A smirk was once again playing across his lips and his almost empty eyes held a slight glint of amusement.

"What do you want!?" She half shouted, clearly frustrated, but was met by silence. "Oh for the love of... Get in!" She glared at the taller boy who raised a single invisible eyebrow at the girl and remained still. "In!" she demanded.

"...why?" He voice was deep and monotone, but not unused. She had expected -if he was to ever speak- that his voice would be slightly broken or quiet due to lack of use, but instead it was rather authoritative, commanding. Not that she actually noticed.

"It spoke!" she exclaimed, the words rolling in sarcasm which she soon regretted when she almost disintegrated under his glare. She sighed slightly, "I'm not standing here with my door wide open, letting the warm air out just so you can stare at me in all your silent glory. If you want to stare at me at least give me the comfort of heat."

She hadn't thought her words to be amusing as she said them, nor had she intended them to be but his glare softened and the smirk returned, along with the amused glint. She was slightly surprised, people didn't usually find her sarcasm funny. Silently, he stepped past her and into the dorm allowing her to shut the door and trap what was left of the heat inside the dorm. She turned round and followed him into the small living area where he stopped and turned to stare at her. Again.

"Right, Gaara. I know you're not the talkative type but can you at least explain why you have been staring at me all day and why you are here now?"

Silence.

"You do know that's _really _annoying, don't you?"

Silence.

She sighed, exasperated. "I swear, I don't even know you and I already hate you!" She frowned as his smirked widened, but not by enough to be classed as a smile.

"Hn."

Without thinking she gave him a quick slap on the arm, both playfully and in frustration, and suddenly found herself pushed back against the wall and her shoulders pressed against it by a pair of strong hands. The impact had hurt and she found herself winded slightly, unable to say anything or stop the small tears forming in her eyes she just looked at him, wondering what he was going to do. It took her a few seconds to finally reclaim her breath.

"Please... I'm sorry... Don't.... Don't hurt me..." her voice trailed off as her tears stinging her eyes won over and trickled down her cheeks, taking some of her dark eye liner with them. She looked back up at him and noticed his eyes seem to refocus and slowly his grip loosened until he let go and backed away slightly, giving her space. Without his arms holding her up, her legs gave out and she slid down the wall until she was sat on the fall, knees tucked against her chest with her forehead resting on them.

A few minutes later she jumped slightly and automatically tried to shift back, further into the wall when a hand gently brushed her bangs away from her face, revealing that the red head had once again moved closer to her. He was crouched down at her level and deeply hidden in his eyes was a look of concern, which she would have missed had she not been so good at reading people through their eyes. _'Windows to the soul'_ her father had called them.

"I apologise, Sakura."

She felt her body relax slightly without her permission and while she couldn't understand it after what had just happened she felt kind of _safe_ with him. "It's... ok"

"No, I didn't mean to hurt you. I sh-"

"-It's ok. Really. I... shouldn't have hit you."

"Hn" his reply was softer, more in place of an agreement than actually answering.

She smiled slightly "Back to being silent now, are we?" Without replying he slowly and gently reached out and wiped a tear from her check with him thumb, leaving a small tingling sensation on her face where his skin had brushed hers. "I guess so..." she answered herself. She began to stand up and he raised with her, until they were both standing a few centimetres apart, the red head taller than her by a good few inches.

She looked up and was caught by his misty green eyes, it was the first time she'd truly noticed the colour, and felt a hand come up to caress her cheek before a thumb ran slowly across her bottom lip. "What are you..." Her words trailed off as the red head bushed a careful kiss across her lips. She couldn't quite understand what was going on and before she knew it he had pulled away slightly and was looking deep into her emerald eyes, as though searching, before suddenly disappearing in a whirl of soft, golden sand.

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**Review please. :)**


	4. The Gardens

**Fourth chapter now updated =]**

**Not much else to write except that: **_I still don't own Naruto. :(_

* * *

Dazed and rather confused. The pinkette leaned back against the wall and stared at the empty space which Gaara had been occupying only moments before. _'Did I just imagine that?'_ she thought, even as her mind argued with it's self about it. Logic said that people didn't just disappear but raising a hand to her still tingling lips she knew that it was all real. Gaara _had_ been there in her dorm. He _had _scared her half to death and then kissed her. He **had **then _vanished_ right in front of her eyes like it was perfectly normal to do so. Sakura felt a rather large headache was about to attack her.

She stood up off the wall and walked to the small kitchen area where she rummaged through the cupboards until she found the paracetamol. Quickly, she took two and sighed. "I'm going to bed" she announced the silence in the dorm before making good her statement ans walking up the small hallway to the double bedroom she shared with Hinata. She undressed and pulled on her favorite black pj's, dumping her clothes on the floor even though it would annoy her friend, and curled up on her side in bed. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

* * *

"Sakura? ... Sakura?"

The pinkettes eyes opened slowly, not exactly happy at being pulled from the lands of sleep, and blinked a few times to focus on the person who has woken her. She mumbled something incoherently before sitting up and looking at the dark haired girl sitting at the side of her bed waiting for her to cast away her sleepy state.

"Wha's up Hina?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"Are you ok?" her friend asked, placing her hand across the pinkettes forehead to check for herself.

"Yeh, I'm fine... Why?" She was awake now, courtesy of Hinata's cold hands pressing onto her forehead. She was fairy sure that anything left of her headache and turned to brain freeze.

"Well, you're in bed. The only time you're in bed early is when you're ill or something happens that you want to ignore." Hinata wasn't her best friend for nothing. She knew the pinkette inside out and back to front.

"I guess thats true..." said Sakura.

"So what wrong?"

The pinkette sighed and thought about what had happened, "I'll explain it when I understand it myself."

"Well... what happened?"

"I... I don't know." Sakura replied softly. Hinata opened her mouth to ask again but stopped herself when she noticed the confused frown on the best friends face. Something had happened, yes, but the navy haired girl knew when to stop pushing things. "Trust me, Hina. The second I know whats going on I'll tell you."

"Ok, Sakura." she replied, standing up with every intention of leaving the room and getting her homework finished before she went to bed. However, she was stopped in her tracks when Sakura grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the bed.

"Hinata, where do you think you're going?" the pinkette asked, smiling at her friend which turned into a grin when the other girl mumbled something about homework. "Not a chance! What happen with you and Naruto on your date?" Sakura laughed when her friends cheeks immediately turned a bright red.

"Well...ah...um...."

"Come on Hina!" the pinkette whined, desperate to gather as much info on the event as she possibly could.

"Well, I had fun." Hinata smiled and her blushed deepened.

"And...?"

"He... he tried to kiss me"

Sakura smiled and then frowned a little. "what do you mean 'tried'?" she asked. Hinata looked down at her lap and fiddled with her fingers until she figured that her friend wasn't going to let her off with answering.

"I... I might...i might of accidentally.. fainted."

"Oh, god Hinata!" Sakura started to giggled and was soon holding her side and trying to breathe, much to her friends annoyance who was blushing uncontrollably and probably wanting the earth to open up and swallow her.

"It's not funny, Saku. He thinks he did something wrong." She sniffled a bit ans Sakura stopped laughing, quickly pulling her friend into a hug.

"Don't worry about it Hina, it'll be ok." she soothed.

"But...but what if I... ruined everything? What...if he doesn't l-like me anymore?" She sniffled again, obviously trying her best not to cry.

"Want me to talk to him?" Sakura asked, still hugging her friend. Hinata was quiet for a moment, apparently thinking of what she would prefer before nodding and whispering a quiet 'yes'. Sakura loosened her arms and they pulled apart.

"If I try to explain... I'll probably j-just faint again." she said, wiping her eyes dry. "Just let him know he didn't do anything wrong."

Sakura nodded and suggested that they go to bed, finally getting Hinata to agree once she'd promised to do their homework together during their lunch break the next day. Hinata got into her pj's and into her own bed. Sakura rolled to face the wall, knowing that now she was awake she wouldn't be going back to sleep any time soon. Normally she would have spoken to Hinata, they usually shared all their problems and secrets, but somehow she knew that she couldn't mention anything about Gaara.

A gentle rustling of bed covers indicated that her friend was shifting in her bed, snuggling down into her covers and pulling them over her head. The pinkette thought her friends way of sleeping was slightly odd but figured she was comfortable that way. She waited in the dark, listening to the silence until it was broken by the soft even breaths of her sleeping friend. She rolled over to face the other bed.

"Hina?" she half whispered, loud enough so her friend would hear is she where awake. "Hina, are you asleep?" When she was once again greeted by silence she slowly sat up and pulled her covers off her before padding across the room to where she had dropped her clothes which she replaced her pj's with, careful not to make too much noise. After dressing she left the bedroom and took her coat from the peg where Hinata had hung it, finding her key in the right pocket. Quietly she unlocked the door and stepped out.

* * *

She locked the door behind her and pulled coat tighter around her body. It fell to her knees and was made of a thick material to keep the cold out but somehow the bitter wind still managed to find it's way through at to her skin. Despite how cold it was, the wind was soft brushing gently against her face and running through her hair, keeping it from her eyes. Walking through the campus, she wasn't surprised that it was empty, especially when she caught sight of the large clock on the main building which read '00:20'. She hadn't realised it was quite so late but it didn't matter, she would have come out regardless of the time.

It had become one of her habits to take a walk to the campus gardens late at night, usually when something was on her mind. It helped calm her. Her thoughts turned to what had happened earlier- the red head and his sand abilities, but also to that one simple kiss that made her lips tingle when she thought about it. _'He's only been here a day... I don't even know him... Why did he do that?" _she wondered, so engrossed in her thinking that she didn't feel the eyes that were watching her.

It didn't take her long to reach the gardens where she quietly walked over to the large oval pond and stood, looking at the glowing moon that was reflected on the water in between the delicate lily-pads that floated proudly on it's surface. She liked this, it was peaceful. It also held memories for her, not there at that pond, but it made her remember another time and place in the past. She rested her arms on top of the pond wall that reached just above her waist and breathed in to cool air.

She wasn't sure how long she had been stood there when she felt the hairs raise on the back of her neck, breaking the relaxed state she was in. She turned away from the pond, facing back up the path which she had walked down and searched it and the surrounding garden for any sign of another person. She found none, yet something didn't feel right. She felt although she was being watched, like someone was hiding in the shadows, like someone she hadn't noticed had been following her.

"Is anyone there?" she asked. The only reply was the sound on the wind moving the leaves and the occasional few dropping to the floor. Nothing else moved, which only worried her more. "Gaara?" she called, him being the only person who she thought may follow her, for whatever reason. Again, nothing moved for a moment until there was a shuffling sound slightly to the left of the path, followed by more defined footfalls and a dark silhouette appearing from behind one of the large trees.

"Who's Gaara, flower?" the figure asked. Sakura narrowed her eyes and glared, silently letting out a sigh of relief.

"Sasuke. What do _you_ want?" she said, venom in her voice. The tall male stepped forward into the dim light of the moon revealing his ebony hair, the bangs blowing slightly in the wind, his dark eyes which were watching her and the stoic expression that was usually on his face. He was wearing his usual choice of black skinny-leg jeans along with a black waist coat and white shirt, his family crest was no doubt sewn on to it somewhere. The long sleeves of his shirt had been rolled up to the elbow and his hands were dug into his trouser pockets.

"I want you, my dear Sakura." His expression changed to one of mild amusement, a small smirk pulled at his lips.

"I think it's a little late for that, Uchiha." she replied, annoyed at his arrogance. She couldn't believe that after he'd messed her around, cheated on her with her best friend, finished with her for her best friend and said who knows what about her to the entire school, he actually expected her to swoon as so many other girls would and take him back. As far as she was concerned, he'd clearly gone insane.

They stood watching each other, several feet apart, neither saying a word. They were so consumed in staring each other down that they didn't notice the shadowed figure that had appeared and was watching the entire scene from the branches that swayed 10 feet above them.

* * *

**I Like Sasuke. I do. Especially in Sasunaru fan-fics. This isnt one of them. Therefore i will hate sasuke through most of this**** fic _because_ he isn't with Naruto.  
I don't care if it's my fault he's not with Naruto.**

**On the other hand, I don't hate Hinata because she's keeping Naruto from Sasuke. Infact, I adore Hinata. She's too damn cute to not like! **

**For the sake of the fic i have cast my Sasunaru love aside. For now...**

**Comment!. Thankyouplease!**


	5. Pond Water

**(Chapter 5 updated)**

**See! It's longer!**

I was surprised actually...seeing as i didn't really know what to write.

**Anyhow...i kinda like this chapter...it has some parts i found amusing. You probably wont...but thats not the point.**

**Much Love- Kitty xx**

**Please COMMENT!**

_i HAVE NO OWNAGE OF NARUTO! -SCREAMS-_

* * *

The pinkette continued to glare at the dark haired boy as he slowly began to walk towards her, his haze never leaving her own. The closer he got, the more nervous she became. She had no idea what he was going to do and she was fairly sure that her sigh of relief was a little early. As much as she had once believed that she loved the stoic figure in front of her, she never had felt safe with him. Sasuke didn't stop walking until he was less than a foot in front of her at which point she tried to take a step back but found that she was backed against the pond wall.

"What do you want?" She asked again, wanting to glare at him but her eyes refused to leave the floor to her right.

"I believe I have already answered that question, love." he answered, his voice taking on the sexy tone he used that so often caused girls o throw themselves at him and bend to his will. Sakura had once been the same, but not anymore.

"Don't you _dare_ call me that!" She snapped. She had once craved her hear him call her 'love' but now it simply made her hate him more.

"My, my, Sakura. If I'd have known you were _this_ feisty I would have taken you back sooner." A smirk pulled at his lips as she looked up and him and glared. On the outside she looked annoyed but inside she was furious, livid. _'Take __**me**__ back! Me!' _She screamed in her head, focusing her blazing eyes on the ice cold ones of her former boyfriend. _'I can't believe he thinks I'd actually get back with him. He's such an egotistical asshole!' _She flinched slightly as he brought his hand to her face an caressed her cheek, similar to how Gaara had but it felt so different, so wrong.

"You want this, my cherry blossom" Sasuke stated before quickly crushing his lips against hers, giving her no chance to escape or correct him on what he had said. He ignored her struggled against him, instead wrapping an arm around her waist to hold her to him while the other held the back of her head to prevent her pulling away. She didn't know whether to be shocked, angry or both she simply struggled more, fighting against the bruising kiss. He was wrong. She most certainly **didn't** want it, and she was going to inform him of such – If or when he finally let her breathe.

She felt a warm tongue slide over her lips and them proceed to push harshly between them in an attempt to gain entry. This gave her an idea, and she held back a smile. She gave into the raven, allowing his tongue entry to her mouth and let her own tongue play along his. Eventually he pushed her tongue back and began exploring her mouth . It was then, in a move that would make any mother proud, she bit down. Hard.

He let out a yelp and pulled back from the girl, his tongue throbbing and a metallic taste invading his mouth revealing that she had drawn blood.. Had he been watching the event he would have been impressed with her actions. Ignoring the dull pain overtaking his mouth, he glared wholeheartedly at the girl in front of and placed his hands on the pond wall at either side of her. "That wasn't very nice was it?" he said, managing to keep his voice normal despite his swollen tongue "Still a virgin, Haruno?"

She unwillingly blushed at the truthful statement. "I don't see how that had anything to do with you." she bit out.

Sasuke smirked at her blush "but it has everything to do with me, flower."

"And whys that, Uchiha?" she asked, not entirely sure she wanted to hear the answer, especially when he leaned forward until his lips were beside her ear and his breath ghosted her skin, causing her shift a little.

"Because you won't be when you leave this garden."

She jerked away, disgust evident on her face and pushed her hands against his chest in an attempt to push him away. "Fuck off Sasuke, I am _not_ sleeping with you. Ever!" she pushed him again but he refused to move and the pinkette felt her anger being over taken by fear of what he was going to do. Part of her was hoping that he wasn't planning to force her but the rest of her was terrified. Without warning the hands at either side of her tugged her arms behind her back where they were held by on of the hands, the other coming back up to cup her face.

"My dear Sakura. What makes you think you have a choice?"

She froze. _'What did he say?' _the thought was followed by panic and total shutdown. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't do anything but feel as his free hand made it's way down her chest, lingering for a moment before continuing down over her stomach eventually finding it's way to the front button of her jeans which he began to undo. She finally found her voice and screamed at him to get off of her, only to go ignored. Tears rolled down her face as he pulled the zip down and began tugging her jeans from her hips.

The shadowed figure watched from his place in the tree , silently taking in what was happening below. He wasn't sure why it displeased him so much to see the pink haired so upset and in harms way. There was a low growl in his mind and he nodded before disappearing from the branch.

"Please, Sasuke. Stop!" She begged as he pulled at her jeans while she fought to keep them on, struggling against the hand holding hers and trying to kick out at the boy. Despite her attempts he was making progress, until he suddenly stopped. A rough sensation and restricted movement of his hand that was pulling her jeans caused the Uchiha to look down and was surprised to find it covered in a flowing layer of sand.

"I believe" a monotone voice said from behind the shadows of the trees "that she told you to stop" with that, the sand around Sasuke's arm turned solid and heavy, dragging him to the floor on his knees taking the pinkette with him. Suddenly his other hand was captured by sand and forced to released Sakura before being pulled to join the same mass of sand as the other. Aware of her freedom she tugged her jeans back into place and shifted back from the raven, stopping a few feet away and drawing her knees to her chest.

Sasuke glared into the darkness surrounding them. "Where are you?" he demanded, not expecting a shadowed person to appear by the same tree he had hidden himself behind, cast in shadow as he had been. "Who the _fuck_ are you!?" he clamored, forgetting the sand holding him prisoner until it suddenly pulled him upright, dragging him into the air until only the very tips of his shoes brushed the floor giving no support. It was now that the shadowed person stepped out, glaring maliciously at Sasuke through ice like eyes surrounded in a think line of black eye liner.

Ignoring his captives question he fixed his view on the quietly sobbing Sakura, his eyes softening ever so slightly, before walking past the Uchiha and leaving him to suffer an his arms began to burn from being held up by the sand. Gaara approached the pinkette slowly until he was stood in front of her. When she made no move to acknowledge him he crouched down and gently ran a hand through her hair.

"You know" she sniffled from behind her knees "that's the most I've ever heard you say"

Knowing that neither of the other two people could see he allowed a slight smile to appear rather than his usual smirk. "hn"

"You're smiling"

He quickly slipped his mask back on and wondered how she could have possibly known, a quiet chuckle echoed in his mind.

"It was in your voice" She looked up at the red head, her eyes red and tear stairs ran down her face. Slowly he reached over and wiped them away, as he had not hours before. She couldn't help but smile slightly, comforted by his presence. Behind Gaara, Sasuke muttered something and the red heads eyes turned cold and malevolent. He stood and turned towards the raven, glaring and smirking sadistically.

The ebony haired boy felt his toes leave the ground completely and realised he was rising further from the ground. Slowly he moved upwards, his arms ached and burned. Once he was a good 6 foot from the ground he stopped moving, instead just hanging in mid air by a large clump of sand wrapped around his hands. He was there just long enough for him to begin to wonder what was going to happen when he suddenly found himself plunged mercilessly into the freezing water of the pond, the shock causing him to release most of the air in his lung immediately. He tried to push towards the surface but found his hands still held by the sand and holing him under the surface.

Upon hearing the splash of the Uchiha entering the pond, Sakura jolted from her sitting position and looked over the pond wall to find that it was a lot deep that expected and that Sasuke was being held under the water. Nervously she turned to her rescuer, wondering if he was going to kill him when Gaara shook his head. Following this was splashing and the sound of someone gasping for breath. Sakura spun back to the pond to see Sasuke being hauled back into the air before he was thrown unceremoniously to the ground beside the pond wall.

The Uchiha was laid on his front, coughing a spluttering for a while before he regained his breathe and rolled on to his back, propping himself up with his arms. His chest was still rising and falling fast under his wet, dirty clothes. He glared at the red head in front on him. "What the fu-" he was cut off by a boot connecting harshly with the side of his face. He spent a few seconds recovering, recomposing his thoughts and making sure his jaw was still intact before looking up to glare at the red head, only to see him looking at the seething pinkette with the slightest look of surprise on his face.

"You fucking bastard!" she screamed before landing another sharp kick to his chest followed by his leg and them missing as she was pulled away by two strong arms wrapped around her shoulders. To say Sasuke was surprised would be a monumental understatement. He knew she could be sharp with her tongue but since when could she deal damage to _him. _Even when he'd told her he didn't want her anymore she'd only slapped him. "I'm going to kill him! Let go of me!" Sakura yelled, almost loud enough to wake the dead... and the entire school campus. "Gaara!" She struggled against his hold but he barely moved, as though he was a stone statue.

_'So Gaara is the new kid'_ Sasuke noted.

"Let go of me!" she yelled again.

"Stop" Like a computer on shutdown, Sakura ceased her struggling at the sound of the red heads voice and his arms relaxed slightly around her, not quite letting her go. He smirked, not talking much had the advantage of people knowing when you were serious. Not that he often found a situation in which he wasn't serious. Slowly, the pinkette nudges her way out of the sand manipulators arms, muttering an apology as she did so.

"Hn" he replied before turning and walking towards the path leading out of the garden, a quick glance at the pinkette being her only indication that she was to go with him. She flicked her eyes to Sasuke and then walked to catch up with Gaara. She didn't get too far when Sasuke opened his mouth again.

"Sakura, you are mine!"

At first she was going to ignore him and just walk away, but then she realised that Gaara had stopped and was once again glaring at the raven. She looked to the red head and he nodded once. Taking it as the ok she walked back towards the Uchiha and placed all of her remaining anger into one final kick... to any guys most prized possession. Satisfied with her work when the raven doubled over with a yell of pain and let out a string of almost incoherent obscenities, she walked back over to Gaara who waited for her and began walking beside her.

"You're evil" he said. Surprising her by his choice to speak. She sent him a sweet smile.

"I do my best"

He smirked at her. "Hn"

* * *

**And there we have it...Gaara to the rescue.  
**I was thinking of having Gaara crush one or two of Sasuke's limbs...but decided a hard kick in the privates was much more fitting. Oh yes.

**PLEASE comment!**

**xx**


	6. Ice Breaker

**(Updated)**

**I typed and i typed and i typed a bit more...and this chapter is the result.  
**I'll be honest- I like it. I don't particularly care if you don't...because _**I **_do xD

I _tried _to add more emotion and such into it since i knew it was lacking...and then it was pointed out to me as well.  
I hope it's improved.

**Starting to move the story on a little now.  
**If Gaara's thoughts seem a little OOC then i have to point out that it's kinda expected. Trying to make Gaara fall in love is hard enough without having him _completely _emotionless. Besides... who knows what Gaara's thinking... he might be hiding something behind that Stoic nature of his. Oh...and of course...this is my fic...Gaara is how i need/want him to be. Period. :p

**Happy reading!**

**Much Love- Kitty xx**

_Mr Police Officer didn't believe me when i said that i _hadn't _stolen Naruto... so he took it all away... so i _still_ don't own it. _:(

* * *

Sakura followed the red head away from the dark garden and along the path in silence. She hadn't really been paying any attention to where she was going, instead simply keeping in step with Gaara and turning when he did. They had been walking for five minutes or so, which she had spent thinking about wither Gaara or Sasuke and wondering what would have happened had Gaara not shown up. She hated to think that the raven was capable of doing something so horrible but he had seemed so... determined to go through with it. With or without her consent. _'Would he really have... raped me?'_ she thought, immediately wishing she hadn't and stopped in her tracks, shaking her head violently as if trying to shake to thought away. It seemed to sink in once she'd actually thought of it as him trying to rape her. She wasn't aware that she was standing still and trembling until a hand fell on her shoulder causing her to jump.

"Sakura?" As usual Gaara's voice was monotone. She'd figured through the few flickers that she'd seen, that the red haired male hid his emotions behind his blank mask. The emotionless voice was something she could get used to though. She had, after all, dates Sasuke and he could be just as bad at times. She cursed herself for thinking about the Uchiha before looking up at sea foam eyes.

"I'm fine" She whispered, surprised when she felt a small tear run down her face. She hadn't even noticed her eyes filling up. He said nothing in response, just looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I just... He was.... Wasn't he." she sniffled a little and felt her body wave slightly as though realisation had been a physical blow. Now she'd noticed them, hot salty tears broke free from her eyelashes and slowly fell. Although Sasuke hadn't managed to actually do anything to her before he was stopped, she felt so dirty. Filthy. Knowing that he had touched her at all with the intentions that he held made her feel sick to her stomach. She could still feel his hands groping down her body, his hands on her skin, his lips on hers. It had all felt so wrong.

Her walls broke under the pressure and she couldn't hold back the sobs. Her legs shook a few times and crumpled beneath her, no longer able to hold up her form. She knelt with her face in her hands, desperately trying to get a grip on herself, trying to hold in her tears, hide her distress. With the anger dissipated, reality had hit her like a train hitting a car on a level crossing.

Gaara stood watching , feeling completely useless. He had no idea how to handle a situation such as this. The only girl he'd ever had to deal with was his sister, who would rather _die_ than have an emotional break down in front of someone. For the first time in what seemed like forever, he felt helpless as he looked down at the crying girl in front of him. She was so full of life, so feisty not hours before and now she was a broken wreak all because of the actions of one boy. '_What do I do'_ he wondered as he continued to watch her body shake with each sob.

_**'What are you doing?'**_ A voice said in his mind. Gaara froze for a second as the all too familiar voice rang clear through his mind, then he sighed mentally – he knew it wouldn't last.

_'Shukaku'_ he replied.

_**'Who else?' **_The demon grinned. Gaara wasn't impressed. Just a minute ago he _only_ had to work out how to comfort a sobbing, pink haired, almost rape victim. Now he also had to deal with a blood thirsty demon that was no doubt eyeing up the girl as his next meal... although that wouldn't explain the quiet growl of anger he'd agreed with then watching from the tree.

_'I thought we'd agreed you would leave me alone for a while?' _

_**'I did...'**_ the demon argued in his defence, although Gaara could feel him smirking in his mind.

_'Three days does not constitute as 'a while', demon.' _He mentally rolled his eyes but he knew he was lucky to have even got three days of peace. Shukaku just _loved_ to annoy him with his pointless chattering and battle calls.

Sakura sniffled hard from her place on the floor, recovering slightly from her breakdown. She glanced upwards to Gaara who was looking at her but didn't appear to actually be there. More like he was thinking deeply about something.

_**'You looked like you could do with my assistance, boy.'**_

"Gaara?" She asked, noticing his eyes refocus slightly before she looked back at the floor. Pulled from his internal conversation he was once against left standing there, wondering what he should do.

_**'Oh, you really are useless. Comfort her!'**_ The demon ordered, obviously loosing his patience with his carrier.

_'What?'_

_**'You heard me! Go!'**_ Shukaku yelled before suddenly disappearing to the back of the red heads mind. Gaara blinked in confusion. He couldn't work out if it was because the demon had actually given him _useful_ advice, or if it was because after giving said advice he had retreated _without_ an argument. He ignored his confusion for the time being, figuring that he could pick up on it later, and refocussed his attention of the girl before him who had almost stopped her tears and was now shivering with the cold.

"Sakura?"

"I'm... fine. Really." she replied, none to convincingly and it wasn't aided much by the sniffle that followed, the tear streaks and her red eyes. He didn't reply. He hadn't really expected her to answer with anything else but part of him wanted her to talk to him. He knew he wouldn't talk back, he never did, but he was able to listen. He couldn't fathom what but there was something drawing him to this pink haired girl. He wondered if it was because she wasn't afraid of him, even after seeing his abilities with sand. Maybe it was because she was the first person to seemingly accept him for who and what he was. Maybe it was something else, something new to him. _'I don't know what's going on' _he thought_ 'but i'm going to find out... and then I'll decide if I like it.'_

The pinkette was still knelt down on the concrete path, he bangs hanging in her face and restricting her view of Gaara and everything else. With this said, she was slightly surprised when she felt two hands pull her up from the floor by her shoulders before pulling her into a hesitant embrace. She was so shocked by it that she momentarily forgot everything to do with Sasuke, instead relaxing into the red heads arms. She hadn't seen him for the hugging type, in fact he probably wasn't, but she was happy that he was trying even if he did feel a little rigid. She would take what she got.

The air around them was still cold and she shivered involuntarily as a gust of wind hit them, the winds being stronger than they had when she left her dorm. Unconsciously she burrowed into Gaara's chest and the warmth that it emanated. Quiet suddenly the winds picked up and she felt a little queasy, as though she had dropped down like on one of those theme park rides she'd seen. Once the wind died down she pulled away slightly and suddenly realised that she was no longer standing outside. In fact, she and Gaara were now stood just inside her front door. Confused, she looked up at the red head. "How...?" his reply was a small smirk and she decided to leave it, instead mumbling her thanks. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, and hid a yawn. "I'm wreaked".

"Sleep" he said simply, moving her hair from her eyes. He turned to leave but stopped mid-motion when a hand caught the fabric of hid coat.

"Gaara" she started, nervously "what happened...earlier?"

He frowned slightly, wondering if the trauma was so bad she'd suffered memory loss. He raised an invisible eyebrow and questioned "The Uchiha?" She shook her head.

"No... when you came to the dorm... before." she blushed slightly. In his mind he heard the distant amused chuckling of Shukaku and suddenly remembered kissing her before disappearing. _'Oh'_ thought the red head, unusually embarrassed, and looked away from the girl in front of him.

"Sorry"

"Why are you sorry?" she asked "I... I wasn't complaining. I didn't mind... well I did when you just disappeared on me like that but... I ah..... it wasn't that I didn't like it or anything!" she felt her cheeks burn "I was just confused and I didn't know where it came from, you know, since you've only been here like... a day and... um... I like you, of course I like you... I just..." She looked up and blushed even more when she saw the amused smirk and barely concealed laughter in his eyes. "I was rambling, wasn't I?" He didn't get chance to reply even if he wanted to.

"**Sakura Haruno!**"

The pinkette spun round and froze, wondering if she'd be able to get out of the dorm before Hinata was out of the bedroom. You see, her best friend was a gentle, shy and sweet person normally. Someone who never raised her voice or hand to anyone... unless she got mad. Unfortunately for Sakura, right now she sounded like she'd past 'mad' an hour ago as was now bordering 'atomic bomb in the middle of London'. She heard a faint whisper of 'good luck' and turned round just in time to see the last few specks of sand disappear before Hinata flew out of the bedroom at the top of the hall.

"Hinata...uh, hi?"

"Hi? _Hi!_ Where the hell were you! You didn't tell me you were going out, you didn't take your phone, you didn't even leave a note! I've been worried!" Sakura felt herself shrink a little with each word .

"I'm sorry... I... I'll explain everything tomorrow." She could feel her dark haired friend glaring at her as she unlaced her army style boots and removed her coat, placing it on the hook lest Hinata blow another fuse. She dragged herself up the short corridor and past Hinata, making her way to the bathroom rather than the bedroom.

"What are you doing?" Asked Hinata, her voice now back to it's usual level and softness.

"Shower"

"Right now, Sakura? Have you seen the time?"

"I'll explain tomorrow" Sakura repeated. Hinata noticed the unhappy look in her friends eyes and decided that pressing the issue wouldn't help. Whatever had happened wasn't good and she didn't want to push her friend into a corner about it. She would speak when she was ready.

"Are you going to be ok?" The navy haired girl asked, running a hand through her rumpled hair.

"Yeh, I'm fine" the pinkette managed to answer with a small smile "just go to sleep, I'll be in bed soon."

"Ok... night"

"Night Hina"

Sakura walked into the bathroom and locked the door before waiting a few seconds and listening to Hinata's footsteps as she walked back to the bedroom followed by the quiet squeak of the bed as she got back under her covers. Once she was sure her friend wouldn't be hammering on the door in five minuted to ask if she was ok, she began to get undressed, taking of each layer of clothing and tossing them into the small laundry basket in the corner of the bathroom. The pipes hummed a little as she turned on the water, making it as hot as she could without scalding herself, got into the shower and started scrubbing herself with her cloth, pouring obscene amounts of body wash onto her skin before scrubbing again. _'I have to get Sasuke off me'_ she thought, dropping the cloth and grabbing her shampoo, rubbing vigorously at her hair and scratching her nails over her scalp. _#I have to get him off me...'_

Eventually, once her skin was red and close to breaking, once she was convinced her scalp was bleeding, she stopped scrubbing and quickly turned the shower tap to cold. Within seconds she was covered in near freezing water, the sudden temperature change shocked her body and she had to hold in the shriek that found it's way to her throat. The chilly water ran over her, slowly soothing her abused skin. When she couldn't take the cold water any longer she turned the tap off and wrapped herself in her towel, shivering.

After a few minuets of letting her body heat back up slightly she dried herself, got into her pj's and left the bathroom. When she entered the bedroom Hinata was fast asleep again, curled up under her covers in the same way she had been when Sakura had left the dorm earlier. The pinkette walked over to her own bed and climbed under the covers, snuggling into the warmth that folded around her still cold limbs. She doubted she would get much sleep but she was determined to try. Whatever had possessed Sasuke to act like he had, she wasn't sure but she wasn't going to let it look like it had effected her at all. The last thing she felt she needed was people asking what was wrong and going to school looking like death warmed up wasn't going to help. Silently praying that her day would get better, not worse, the pinkette closed her eyes and was eventually overcome by sleep.

* * *

A shadowed figure laid stretched out and comfortable on the roof above the dorm holding the sleeping Sakura and her friend. He stared up at the clear night sky and studied the stars, allowing his thoughts to wander to the girl that he seemed to feel he needed to protect. Ever since their eyes had connected during the first lesson he'd had this odd urge to make sure she was safe, to look after her. Pushing her against the wall and making her cry had had the strange effect of making him feel bad and he never felt bad for anything, ever.

_'Shukaku...?' _A dark chuckle sounded through his mind, slowly getting louder until it stopped.

_**'What is it, boy? I thought you wanted me to leave you alone?'**_ The demons voice was amused, but Gaara simply ignore him and continued with him out train of thought, even if the idea of a truly amused Shukaku worried him.

_'What... am I feeling?'_ He asked, frowning as he said it. Shukaku chuckled.

_**'The girl, is she special?'**_

_'Special? She's...different, I suppose. Why?'_ Gaara was confused, why would his demon care what he thought of the girl... and why did it seem that Shukaku was trying to help, in his own evil demonic way.

_**'Different?'**_ The demon laughed **_'For you to think she is different to all the other human filth out there.... well, she must be very special indeed.'_** A freakishly wide grin spread across the sand demons face.

_'What are you trying to say?'_

_**'You have developed feeling for the girl.'**_ He chuckled, but quieter this time. Gaara scoffed.

_'Don't be ridiculous!' _The demon glared at Gaara within his mind, as if daring the red head to say he was wrong. Gaara said nothing and Shukaku returned to laughing at his carrier, eventually stopping and settling on a grin.

_**'Boy, I have been within your mind since the day you were born, almost eighteen years ago. I have watched you as you have grown, as you have lived and never since the day of your fourth birthday have you embraced another person. Not your sister, not your brother, not anyone. Fair is to say that some of your... social issues are of my doing, but this girl, this small, pink haired girl has caused something within you and it intrigues me. After less than a day of knowing her you have shown her more affection in a few hours than you have to anyone over the last thirteen years. Think of that, boy, then try telling me you feel nothing for the girl.'**_

Gaara didn't reply. He didn't know what to reply with. He was finding it difficult to believe that one insignificant girl had somehow managed to wriggle her way through his barriers and under his skin. No one had done that. After years of perfecting himself he was a stone wall, but somehow real emotion slipped back into him around Sakura. It was as the demon said, she had caused something to happen within him, yet rather than be angered that she had cracked his defences, he found it... soothing. Perhaps he had found the one person that held enough fire to melt the ice that had formed around his heart.

_'Perhaps...'_ he thought, before slipping into meditation.

* * *

**Any good?**

**If i failed miserably in my attempt to better my writing, please say so.**

**Commentisms!! **


	7. Pressure Point

**I can't believe i took so long to post this. This week has been a _Nightmare.  
_Laptop died, then the internet wouldn't work. On top of that i've been sooo busy it's been stupid. Grr.**

* * *

Sakura groaned as she was snatched away her sleep by someone shaking her. Not impressed in the least, she simply tugged the covers over her head and ignored her friends complaints. After all, her first lesson wasn't until after lunch and she had no intention of getting up until absolutely necessary.

"Sakura!" Hinata had seemingly resorted to the begging technique in order to rouse her friend.

"Nhmm..."

"He says he'll knock the door down if you don't go!"

Sakura sighed, I was _way_ too early to be dealing with people. _'Is it too much to ask to sleep in? Really?' _"Who?" She asked sleepily.

"..._him_"

"Who? Naruto?"

"N-no..." The dark haired girl really hoped Sakura wasn't the type to shoot the messenger "...it's S-Sasuke".

Sakura froze. '_Am I hearing things?'_ She rolled over and came from under her covers to face Hinata. "Please tell me you _didn't_ just say that".

"He...I wouldn't let him in, b-but he won't go from outside". The blue haired girl looked worriedly at her friend who seemed to have paled considerably within the last few seconds. "A-are you ok?"

Sakura looked up at her friend who was still standing by the side of her bed. She felt sick. _'Sasuke. Why is he here? What does he want?'_ She felt a small tear break free without warning and trickle down her face. "No...I'm not ok. Not at all-"

A banging sounded from the direction of the front door, causing Sakura to tense. She didn't want him anywhere near her, not after what he'd tried to do. _'This is _not _happening'_ she thought, hoping that eventually he would get bored and go away.

"Sakura... What's wrong. You said you'd t-tell me..." Hinata moved to sit on the edge of the pinkettes bed before taking her friends hands in her own. "What happened?"

Part of her just wanted to curl up and die. To simply crumble away until she didn't exist. Yet another part of her kept reminding her of what she had decided the night before and deep down she knew - she couldn't let Sasuke win. Not today, not tomorrow, not _ever_.

"Hina... when I went out this morning, I went to the gardens." She looked at Hinata who nodded for her to continue. "When I got there...S-Sasuke showed up...

a-and he..." She stopped to try and wipe her tears away but they were simply replaced with new ones. _'Fuck. Why is this so hard... I didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't my fault...'_

"He what, Sakura..." The other girl sounded unusually serious. Just like the Hinata from the early morning.

"He...He tried t-to...r-r-...rape me". Tears cascaded down her face until her friend was just a blur. She was pulled into a tight hug and she felt Hinata gently stroke her hair while cradling her. After a few minutes the dark haired girls grip loosened until she slowly pulled back, recapturing her hands in her own. Her own pale silver eyes shone with unshed tears.

"Saku...Y-you said he _tried_..."

The pinkette nodded, sniffing. "Gaara stopped him".

"Gaara?"

Before Sakura could answer, there was another loud bang from the front door and Hinata's eyes flashed anger.

----

The raven banged on the door to Sakura's dorm. Despite what had occurred the night before he was certain, that with a little _persuasion_, the pinkette would see things his way and admit she was still blindly in love with him. _'After all'_ he thought, _'I always get what I want'_

Getting irritated that the girl wouldn't come out to see him, he turned and looked out the window, across the school campus. For a Thursday morning, it actually seemed rather quiet. Usually the campus was littered with students _trying_ to hand in various essays before the 12 noon. Thursday was deadline day. Lessons didn't start until after lunch and, since he had handed in his work the second the school staff dared open the doors, he had the morning to talk Sakura around.

A minute or so after turning to look across the campus he heard the dorm door swing open, at speed, and slam loudly again the wall. He smirked to himself _'Sakura...always so easy to annoy'_.

He turned round the face the door and was rather surprised when he came face to face with a _seething_ Hinata. If that was the word for it. The dark haired girl looked positively murderous, which almost made Sasuke ditch his Uchiha pride and run for the hills. Almost.

"Is Sakura planning on making me wait here _all_ day. I've already told you I wont hesitate to let myself in" With some difficulty, he kept his voice the same as always. He sounded almost bored with the situation, even though he currently had holes being drilled through him, by the eyes of a livid Hyuga.

The petite girl simply stood there, glaring.

"Well, Hyuga? I hardly have all-" He was abruptly cut off when the dark haired girl suddenly jabbed her hand at the hollow of his throat, pushing him off balance and causing him to fall backwards on to the floor. It was at this point he realised, with panic and confusion, that he couldn't breathe. _'What the...how...'_

"How long can an Uchiha hold his breath, Sasuke?" She asked the raven, who was currently sat on the floor, wide eyed and struggling to breathe.

His eyes flickered up to the girl staring down at him. _'Hinata? The quiet girl that blushes every time that dobe Naruto goes near her? She just...'_ He broke his thoughts when he saw a flicker of movement down the hall.

The anger left Hinata face as she too saw the new arrival. "N-Neji...I..."

The male Hyuga approached, bearing a somewhat amused expression. "Hinata, go back inside." He gave her an almost invisible smile. Secretly he was proud of her. It was him who trained her in pressure point attacks, although she never seemed to catch on when they trained. He had to admit, he had been rather surprised to witness his overly shy cousin practically rip a door off it's hinges, before physically _attacking_ someone.

"But...o-okay..." she retreated, quickly, back into the dorm, shutting the door softly behind her.

Neji smirked down at the raven. "Hinata just hit one of your pressure points. Lucky for you, she doesn't have the heart to kill someone and only partially compressed your windpipe. You'll be able to breathe properly soon, just don't try and force it".

Trying not to panic, Sasuke attempted to stay calm. After what seemed like an eternity he slowly felt his throat ease up slightly and he was able to take in a slow breath of air. A few minutes later he was able to breathe almost normally.

Neji simply stood watching him as he recovered. Behind his stoic expression, he found the Uchiha's recent situation hilarious.

Sasuke slowly got back to his feet, before staring back the Hyuga who was obviously trying to hide his amusement. "Whatever, Hyuga" he stated in his usual, cold tone before turning to walk away. He was rather annoyed. _'First I get attacked by the Hyuga girl and now I'm leaving _without_ Sakura. Well, if my little flower won't be civil, then I won't be either...'_

The brown haired boy watched the Uchiha walk away, apparently deep in thought. He had intended to ask how the _hell_ he managed to get Hinata so mad, but he could ask her instead, even if he had to put up with her stammering. It was something he wanted to know, if only to warn Naruto what _not_ to do to his cousin. In all honesty, he preferred the blonde alive.

----

Inside the dorm, Sakura and Hinata had changed roles. The dark haired girl was sat on the small sofa staring into space while her friend hurriedly made her a cup of tea. The pinkette had barely had the chance to blink before Hinata had rush from the bedroom and slammed open the front door to confront the raven. Sakura had watched it all from the top end of the dorm hallway. She'd seen her friend angry before but that...that was something else entirely.

"Hina...?" Carefully she sat down next to the girl and handed her the cup of tea. "Are you ok?" The girl nodded slowly, apparently dazed by the experience, before taking a small sip of the tea.

"I...I just..."

A small click from the hallway signified the entrance of the 2nd Hyuga, who swiftly made his was round the room divider. Although Neji wouldn't say it, he cared rather deeply for his cousin and so wanted to ensure she wasn't in danger of having a mental breakdown over what had happened. Hinata did nothing but continue to sip at her tea, knowing he was probably looking at her - one eyebrow raised in question - as he prepared his interrogation.

She said a silent 'thank you', to which ever godly entity saw fit to save her, when Sakura stood up and shuffled the male Hyuga into the hallway, where they could talk. Sometimes, Hinata was sure the pinkette forgot that sound travels more that a few feet. The dark haired girl continued to sip her tea.

_"What did Sasuke do to my cousin?"_ Neji. Hinata smiled slightly at the concern in his voice. She wished he didn't act so...cold, but that was how he was. He had his own way of caring.

_"Nothing..."_ And Sakura. Her long time best friend... who seemed to think that Neji would accept an explanation of 'nothing'. Hinata had come to the conclusion a while ago that if Sakura hadn't been a pinkette, she was a definite candidate for being blonde.

_"Sakura, Hinata just physically attacked that damn Uchiha. We both know Hinata wouldn't resort to attacking someone unless something serious had happened"_

_"He didn't do anything to Hinata. He...upset me..."_

_"Upset you? Saku-"_ A slight hint of irritation ran through the males voice. He was obviously expecting a full explanation. Hinata put her cup down and made her way towards the hall.

_"I'm not going into details, so please...don't ask._

_"I already as-"_

"N-Neji...um..." The female Hyuga looked like a rabbit caught in headlights as the two others turned to her "Please...c-can you just...l-leave it..." She looked down at the floor, though she could still feel them both looking at her.

"Fine" He agreed, obviously not impressed at being told to drop the subject. The pinkette glanced between the two before putting on a small smile.

"Neji, I have to go out for a little while... could you keep and eye on Hinata?" He raised an eye brow at the pinkette.

"She's not a child, Haruno" She sighed, rolling her eyes.

"No, but after what just happened I'd rather not leave her alone. I won't be long"

"Fine, I needed to speak with her anyway" both girls looked at him with concern "Not about that."

Sakura gave him a small smile before running off to the bedroom to get changed out of her PJ's, leaving the cousins in the hall. When she reappeared ten minutes later the Hyugas had moved back into the living room and were talking quietly between themselves. The pinkette quickly pulled her boots on, which were covered by her long baggy jeans, waved a quick goodbye to the two in the living room and left the dorm, shutting the door with a slight bang behind her. She glanced round, making sure there was no sign of a certain raven, before setting of in no particular direction. She hadn't really needed to go anywhere but figured that Hinata and Neji needed to talk. Family talk.

----

Gaara was not happy. Not in the slightest. In fact, to say the red head was annoyed would be a _vast_ understatement.

It was still morning and the Uchiha had already done two things that displeased Gaara. 1) He banged on Sakura's door loud enough to break the red head's concentration and bring him out of meditation. 2) Sasuke seemed to think that he could go near Sakura, even after the previous events. The latter bothered Gaara greatly.

So now, he was silently shadowing the pinkette as she walked towards the library. Why? He didn't really know. Honestly. _'I have _not_ developed feelings for the girl. I am _not _following her to make sure she is safe, because I care. I do _not_ care. Not at all'._

Shukaku laughed within the dark depths of his mind, seemingly amused at, what the demon called, Gaara 'denial'. He wasn't in denial. He couldn't care for people. Never had and he wasn't starting now. He continued to follow the pinkette, watching her hips sway slightly as she walked before snatching his eyes away and berating himself, causing the sand demon to laugh again wile muttering something about 'stupid boy', 'denial' and 'pinky'.

_"What was that, demon?"_

_**"Nothing. Nothing at all."**_

The red head let out an irritated sigh before flicking his eyes back to the girl, finding that she had stopped and was 'talking' to another girl. The one that had labelled him a 'freak' the second he stepped into the class.

"What _ever_, forehead. I'll do what I like."

"Fine, Ino-pig. I was just _trying_ to warn you. I wish I hadn't bothered now."

"Your not the only one! I don't need your help, Sa-ku-ra, I can handle myself."

"Ok, Ino, whatever you say." At this the pinkette moved to walk past the blonde, conversation over. Or not...

"You should be warning yourself, forehead." The pinkette turned around

"What?"

"Well, I'm not the one with some weird red haired _freak_ watching me like a hawk."

It was now that Gaara realised that he was stood pretty much out in the open, not hidden in the slightest. He glared at the blonde, who took an involuntary step back under his gaze, until he suddenly had a smaller, pink haired, person trying to squeeze him to death, via a _hug_. He decided to ignore Ino in favour of looking down at Sakura, eyebrow raised in question. It was a few seconds before the girl seemed to realise that yes, she was in fact _hugging_ Gaara and released him, taking a few steps back. Amazingly, he found himself struggling to hide a smile.

"Uh...Hi, Gaara." She smiled sheepishly. What had made her dive for the boy was a mystery to her, especially since she knew he wasn't big on 'touching'.

"..." he said nothing in reply, just stood watching her, a small smirk playing on his lips as usual. In the background, the blonde snorted before walking off.

"I... sorry." The pinkette blushed. "Just... saying thanks for last night..." He nodded in acknowledgement before turning slightly and signalling for her to follow.

* * *

**So...OOC Hinata, kinda. I dunno. Chakra points - pressure points, same difference **

**Comment please. If you think Hinata is a little too ...not Hinata, tell me :) I like to know if i've messed up.**

**And no...this isn't going to be a 'everyone-hurt-sasuke' fic. lol**

**xxx**

Anyway, finally got i posted. This is... kinda... a filler chapter.

**Much Love - Kitty xx**


	8. Demons Blessing

**Ok, so this chapter is really long.** Compared to usual anyway, but i just could figure where i could stop it before i finally did.

**Sorry i had you wait _forever_ for this chapter,** i've kinda had to put it on hold while i get some things sorted out with my personal life and such. It's a pain in the ass, i know, but it can't be helped right now. I will _try_ and update a little faster.

**Moving the story on a little more here, oh and we have a NEW CHARACTER entering the fray.** Someone mentioned him in a review but i didn't think i'd be able to write him well enough. Eventually i decided 'what the hell' and added him in. Should make things a little more interesting along the way.

**Much Love - Kitty xx**

**Oh, and please review.** Thankyouplease!

* * *

Sakura was rather surprised when she realised that they were walking in the direction of the student car park. Not because she didn't think Gaara had a car, _everyone_ seemed to have a car, but because she didn't think Gaara was the type to take people places. He seemed to much prefer his solitude.

Once they got closer, she began to wonder what kind of car he had. A large majority of the students, who could drive, had to settle for what they could afford, which was usually a rusty box with wheels. Some people, such as Sasuke, Ino and a few others had more than enough financial backing to get whatever they wanted. Sakura was also in that group, although only a few people knew this as she didn't receive her wealth under the best of circumstances. Along with that, she preferred to keep her head down. She didn't want people being her 'friend' because she had money.

She pondered as she followed the red head. She didn't know much about him but she really couldn't see Gaara driving around in a car destined for the junk yard.

After entering the car park, Gaara led her towards the back corner, where he stopped beside a wall. Now she was confused. The pinkette looked from the wall to the boy, a confused frown marring her face. He simple smirked at her before placing a hand on the wall which mediately disintegrated into sand, revealing a rather sleek black and red dodge viper. The pinkette's jaw dropped.

For a few minutes the girl simply stood staring at the car. A loud triple beep of the car alarm bringing her back to her senses.

"This... is yours?" She mentally slapped herself for that. _'Duh...not many people go around erecting sand walls and such.'_

He obviously thought something along the same lines, as he gave her a 'are you stupid' look before walking over to the drivers side to open the door. Sakura followed suit with the passengers side and got in, admiring the inside of the car. Black interior with red leather seats. Everything about the car was just so...Gaara.

"So... where are we going?" She glanced over at him as he started the car, engine roaring into life.

"First, my apartment" As usual, he spoke little and quietly.

"Your... apartment?" She didn't mind going to his place, with anyone else she'd have felt uncomfortable but this was Gaara, plus, the 'first' implied that they would also be going somewhere else. What made her ask for confirmation was the point that _Gaara_, the stoic, closed off red head with a personal bubble the size of a small country, was taking her to his _home_. The most personal place possible.

"I need to change my clothes" The pinkette struggled to ignore the rather lucid thoughts of an unclothed Gaara. The most she'd seen of him so far was what wasn't covered, but the tightness of the black t-shirt made the sculptured torso beneath it something to be desired.

"You didn't go home?"

"No"

"Oh...why?" She knew she was probably asking too many questions, but she was curious. Where _did_ he go, if not home?

"I was..." He paused, frowning slightly as if choosing his words. "...I was ensuring the Uchiha kept his distance". There was something about that sentence that Shukaau found amusing but he said nothing. Gaara wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing but passed it off when he heard Sakura giggle slightly. He raised an invisible eyebrow at her in question.

"...so where were you when Sasuke showed up? I don't recall seeing any sand" She smiled at him, a small glimmer of _something_ in her eyes. Gaara wasn't sure what it was. Nor was he sure if he wanted to know. So, he gave her the best explanation he possible could,

"Hn" He was confused when she simply continued to smile at him, as though she had been expecting it. He wasn't that predictable, surely not.

_**'Of **_**course****_ you are, boy. 90 percent of the time your answer is 'Hn'. Why would she expect any different?'_**

Gaara thought about it for a few seconds and came to the conclusion that yes, unfortunately the demon was right.

_**'Open up to her a little, what's it going to hurt?'**_

He mentally glowered at the demon. Gaara simply didn't open up to people. Ever. It was irrelevant that he had realised, not hours before, that he felt _something_ for the pink haired girl beside him. He was still heinously denying it and would continue to do so. Or so he tried to convince himself. Quickly putting the car into gear, he began to manoeuvre out of the car park, hoping the pinkette would refrain from asking more questions.

* * *

Sakura had remained quiet for the entire journey, simply looking out of the window and watching the world rush by as Gaara sped through the streets. He didn't drive dangerously, just fast. Very fast. Once or twice she had been concerned that they would go through a red light but somehow the red head always managed to stop in time. She knew it probably had something to do with the sand, but didn't ask.

Eventually the car pulled up in the small, private car park attacked to a large complex of up-market apartments. From the outside, the pinkette could tell that they were they kind where each apartment took up nearly half of each floor. Part of her was impressed. The other part wondered what Gaara needed so much space for.

She followed him quietly through the glass doors of the apartment entrance. The foyer was a rather large space. The walls were pure white, looking like they were re-painted every other day to keep them clean, the floor was black marble and the room was mostly empty, save for a few potted floor plants and a large black desk at which someone who appeared to be a clerk was sat. It seemed the apartments were posher that the pinkette had first imagined. No doubt the clerk doubled as a security guard to prevent any unwanted guests.

Upon their entering the clerk looked up and signalled for the red head to go over. Gaara sighed. He turned to Sakura before digging into his jeans pocket and pulling out his key and handing it to her. For obvious reasons she was confused and looked up awaiting an explanation. Gaara considered 'hn'ing at her for a moment but decided against it.

"8th floor, the room on the right." So, it wasn't an explanation, but at least she knew where she was going. Apparently Sakura didn't think that was enough as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll follow in 5 minutes". He knew it wouldn't satisfy Sakura's curiosity, but ignored that and turned to walk towards the desk, leaving the pinkette stood by the entrance doors.

She sighed at the red heads lack of ability to talk before making her way over to the lifts and pressing the button. Immediately the doors whizzed open and she stepped in, pressing the button for the 8th floor. She waited for the doors to close and then felt the lift rise up through the floors, stopping not seconds later on the correct floor. When the doors reopened she found she was correct in thinking that each floor contained two apartments as the small corridor area only contained two doors; 8A and 8B. The 'A' door, on the left, had a name slide underneath it which read 'L. Rock '.

As she began to walk toward the door on the right, 8A opened to reveal it's occupant. The first thing she noticed what that he was wearing _green_. His turtle neck top was green, as were his tight emo-jeans. His belt was black but had green flat-studs around it, his watch and sweat band were green and his trainers were black with green laces. The only thing that _wasn't_ green was the offensively orange leg warmers he was wearing. She struggled not to leg her mouth drop. She couldn't help but wonder if he had got dressed in the dark. She was brought back from her world of wondering when a loud shout rang out.

"I, Rock Lee, have never seen a girl filled with such youthful energy and beauty!! " Within a second the pinkette found herself no long touching the floor. Instead she was being spun around in the arms of Gaara's neighbour who was still spouting random things concerning 'youth' 'beauty' and 'tears of joy'. Too shocked to struggle against his hold she simple stared at the person holding her who she found to have black, super shiny, hair in a style that closely resembled a bowl, two unbelievably bushy eyebrows and two rows of white teeth that could blind a stadium of people with one smile. "I shall woo you with my glorious youth and show you the true power of love!" With that Sakura found herself thrown over the, green clad, males shoulder who marched back into his apartment, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Gaara wasn't impressed. Once again he had been handed a bill for the cleaning of the drainage pipes. It happened every few months but it still annoyed him. Whenever he had a shower, sand came off him and over time it ended up blocking the drains. Since the source could be traced to his apartment, he got the bill. He'd had to stand at the desk, filling out forms for the payment and such for at least ten minutes, with the clerk repeatedly trying to make conversation. He had just ignored him.

Walking out of the lift on the 8th floor his quickly walked over to his door, only to find that it was still locked. Puzzled, he knocked. When Sakura didn't come to the door he summoned some sand in the apartment to take the form of an eye, giving him sight beyond the door. After checking every room in the apartment and still not finding the pinkette he began to wonder if she had somehow got lost in the complex, until he heard a bang come from his neighbours apartment. He felt Shukaku sigh irritably within him.

_**'Looks like the lover of all things youthful stole away with your little girlfriend' **_Gaara frowned.

_'Sakura is not my girlfriend, demon'. _It was true enough. Sakura _wasn't_ his girlfriend, although that didn't change that fact that he currently wanted to rip Lee's head off for even laying eyes on her. He knew he was mad, as did the demon within him.

_**'Oh? The why is this feeling of rage and jealousy flowing through you?'**_ Shukaku grinned widely in triumph inside Gaara's mind before letting out a deep chuckle. He watched with interest and the red head began the process of pinking the lock on his door with sand. **_'Aren't you going to get her back?'_**

'_No, letting her endure Lee's speech on youth might teach her how to run from crazy people'. _He thought for a moment that it was strange that he regarded Lee as crazy when he was the one who could control sand and had a demon inside him. The only thing inside Lee was too much sugar and 'youth'. Even he admitted to occasionally using his sand-teleportation to avoid bumping into Lee. He felt the demon snickered at his thoughts before smirking evilly.

"_**And what if he's not just talking? What if he's showing her the youthfulness of his body?" **_Gaara stopped dead after the second it took to understand what Shukaku was implying. It was a stupid idea, but the red head disliked it all the same. A few steps later found him banging loudly on the door of his neighbour, more than prepared to break it down if he didn't answer within the next 5 seconds. Lucky for him, he did.

"Gaara, my youthful neighbour! What brings you to my apartment, perhaps you wish to take up my offer of celebrating youth and peace and love!?" The bowl haired boy exclaimed, waving his arms around in excitement. Gaara stared at the raven for a few seconds before looking past him to see Sakura standing a few feet into the apartment with a look on her face that almost made Gaara laugh. He returned his gaze to Lee.

"The girl" He watched as the grin on Lee's face became even wider, if possible, and noticed the pinkette back up and duck slightly as searching for cover.

"Ah, the beautiful Sakura who I have pledged my undying love and protection to! The one who I will forever dance with in celebration of love! As she is your guest I must ask permission for me to stay with her so I am there to protect her from the evil of this world!" Gaara blinked. Now he understood by Sakura backed away, Lee was insane.

"No" He was sure he saw the pinkette breathe a sigh of relief but he was preoccupied with watching the expression on the other males face. Lee had stopped smiling but a flame of determination had appeared in his round, dark eyes.

"I see. In that case, we shall be rivals and I will win the heart of Sakura using my youthful might!" With that Lee moved to the side of the door way and turned to face the pinkette. "You may go, miss Sakura, but rest assured, I will win your heart!" He beamed at her, teeth sparking in the light. Sakura, wondering if she was going to get glomped again, slowly made her way out of the door, not breathing easily until she was out of the ravens reach. "Goodbye miss Sakura!" Lee called before moving back into his apartment and shutting his door.

Sakura stood and stared at the now closed door. _'I'm...alive!'_. She looked up at the red head to see him wearing his usual smirk, held back laughter showing in his eyes.

"That wasn't funny." Gaara felt his lips switch and he desperately held back his laughter, but it had been funny. Sakura pouted and folded her arms. "You are never leaving me alone with that guy again. _Ever_! I thought I was going to die at the hands of a youth obsessed maniac!" Gaara ducked his head and walked towards his own door in order to hide the smile that had forced it's way on to his face. Shukaku stirred.

_**'Still afraid to show your emotions, boy?'**_ The demons tone was harsh, as though he was admonishing his carrier. That was all he said though, he didn't even wait for an answer before fading back into the darkness of Gaara's mind.

Remembering that Sakura still had his key he forced his expression back to his usual stoic one and turned to her, holding his hand out and waited for her to hand it to him. When she made no move to give him his key he raise an invisible eye brow at her, hoping that she hadn't left it in Gaara apartment.

"The key?" He asked. She smiled slyly and put her hand in her pocket, pulling out the key. Holding it in front of her, between her index finger and her thumb, she looked up at him, her smile widening.

"You mean this key?" Gaara watched her curiously. It was quite obvious that that was the key he meant, so what game was she playing? In answer he nodded slightly. She frowned.

"Stop that!" She commanded, please when she saw the small crease of a confused frown on his forehead.

"Look, Gaara, you show me your sand thing, protect me from Sasuke and save me from Lee's 'youth', you bring me here which I can only see you doing if you trusted me, and yet you won't talk to me. You even hide it when you smile. Why?" she asked, looking up at him, her green eyes sparkling. "I know you're not the talkative type but to say you kissed me for no reason at all, you could at least hold a proper conversation with me!" He stared at her. He wasn't exactly sure on how to respond. Somewhere in his mind Shukaku was laughing at him and his predicament.

_'I'm glad you find this amusing, demon.' _He snarled mentally.

_**'Don't you see the humour?'**_ The dog-raccoon chuckled again, this time at the waves of anger that were directed at him.

_'Obviously not. What exactly do I do?"_ He knew he'd regret asking the demon for any form of help, but he needed it. It also seemed that Shukaku had taken some kind of linking to Sakura himself.

_**'Maybe you should answer her question.' **_Gaara could practically see the demon rolling his eyes at him. In all honesty, that did seem like the obvious course of action but this was Gaara, he never opened up.

_'You know full well that I don't open up to people, and you know why that is.'_ It was true. They both knew the reason the red head didn't open up was because of the demon. Anyone who had ever been close to Gaara, other than his sister, brother and father, had found themselves dealing with Shukaku's wrath. Why? Gaara didn't know. The demon had never seen fit to explain to him why he chased everyone away.

_**'Then perhaps you should open up to the girl anyway.'**_

_'And have you scare her? _Hurt_ her? Not her Shukaku. She's the only one that isn't scared of me. Even my own brother and sister fear what I could do to them, but Sakura, she's knows about my power over sand, she probably realised what I could have done to the Uchiha and therefore knows what I could so to her, but she's not scared of me. I'm not going to let her in so you can scare her away.'_

He felt the demon shift within him, grinning widely. Sakura was still looking at him, oblivious to what was going on inside his mind. Gaara still didn't know what to do, he would loose her either way.

_**'So you admit that you care deeply for the girl, though you barely know her?'**_

_'...'_

_**'Do not ignore me, boy.' **_The demon didn't shout, but his voice was raised. He always had hated being ignored.

_'I couldn't if I tried. You're in my head._ The red head retorted, quite truthfully. He was irritated at what the demon was doing. It wasn't like he couldn't dig through his thoughts and find out exactly what he thought of Sakura.

_**'Then answer. Do you care for the girl?'**_The demon was still grinning.

_'Yes.'_ Gaara closed his eyes. For the first time in his life he was admitting to caring for someone. He'd let people get close, only to be removed from his life my Shukaku, but he'd never, ever admitted to caring for someone before. He'd always been scared of what the demon would do if he did. Now he would know. He was going to loose Sakura, but at least he could admit that he cared for her. Perhaps not openly, but to himself and to the demon within him.

He felt the demon shift around again, the grin had fallen from his face changing into what Gaara could only describe as a fond expression. He'd never seen it grace the demons face before and some childish, un-Gaara like, part of him really wished he had a camera.

_**'Then no harm will come to her, from me or any other.'**_ The demon smiled, a genuine non-evil smile, before retreating to the distant areas of Gaara mind before the red head could become coherent enough to ask questions. He would explain later, after the his carrier managed to open up to the girl.

Gaara's thoughts were all over the place. He couldn't quite decide if he had heard right, but guess he had when the demon moved out of reach of his thoughts. Shukaku would leave Sakura alone? Not only that, he had said he would protect her. Either Shukaku had gone insane or the impossible just happened. In his confused Gaara didn't even realise when he spoke out loud.

"What?" He had intended it to be said mentally, in hope of the demon hearing him and coming back to explain what he had said. He only realised he had spoken when he felt a soft poke in his arm which brought him back into the real world. Sakura was stood in front of him, finger extended ready to poke again if necessary, with a look of confused annoyance on her face.

"You zoned out? Here I am trying to get you to talk to me and you _zone out_?!" She didn't sound too pleased, and indeed she wasn't.

"I...uh...sorry." he muttered, still trying to fully understand the demons words. He didn't know whether to trust them, although Shukaku had never lied to him before. He had always kept his word. He watched as Sakura rolled her eyes. In a split second he decided. "You want to talk?" Sakura sighed and looked down at the floor.

"You don't have to. I just wish you would." She said softly, a slight hint of sadness lingering in her voice. She just wanted to get to know him. She'd realised in only the day or so of knowing him that she held feeling for him, and not just because he saved her from Sasuke. They had began when he first came to her apartment, when he kissed her an disappeared in his sand. Ever since then she'd wanted to know what he hid behind he stoic mask and had wanted to get closer to him.

"It's fine, Sakura. I'll talk." His spoke in his usual tone but couldn't stop the slight warmth that edged it. He was talking to the girl that had somehow broken through his barriers in less that 48 hours and also managed to earn the approval of Shukaku. She was special.

"You'll...talk?" She asked, surprised. "Really?"

"Yes, now can I have my key?" Gaara asked, once again holding out his hand for his key that was back in the pinkettes pocket. "I don't want to stand outside my apartment all day when I have plenty of seats inside." Sakura simply gaped at the red head in front of her before closing her mouth slowly and smiling.

"So you can speak!" She exclaimed, giggling when Gaara shook his head slightly and smirked at her.

"Hn, Key." His smirk grew slightly when she scowled, digging into her pocket to pull out the key, this time handing it to him.

"Meanie!"she pouted, rather adorably, while the red head turned to unlock the apartment door then open it. Moving out the way he waited for her to walk in first. "You're still going to talk, right?" she asked before she walked through the door fully, turning once again to look at him.

"Hn." He smirked at her and she smiled back, taking the 'hn' as a yes. Quickly, she leaned up and brushed her lips against him own before skipping through the door and into the large open plan living area of the apartment, leaving a stunned Gaara stood at the door watching her, mouth slightly open, eyes a litter wider than usual.

_**'See what happens when you open up a little?'**_ Shukaku grinned from somewhere.

Gaara nodded dumbly before stepping into the apartment and closing the door.

* * *

**So there we have it.  
Another chapter over and done with.  
Please review and tell me what you thought.  
I hope my attempt and writing Lee wasn't a total failure.**

**OOOOooo! And Gaara going to open up to Sakura. Yay! I get to make Gaara talk! Whoopness!**

**Much loves!! xxxxx**


	9. The Rose

**Oh.My.GOD.**

**This chapter almost killed me! **I must have started on it like... a thousand times before i actually got somewhere and i _still_ dont know if i hate it. I'm not sure all all really. :S

It's not what i was thinking would happen, but my fingers started typing and they wouldn't stop until this was how it went :S

**I do hope i haven't fucked up _too_ much. Feel free to cyber-beat me if i have.**

**Much Love- Kitty x.x**

**Oh, by the way! **I just want to thank my reviewers! I love you all soooooo much! -glomps reviewers-

* * *

Still slightly dazed by the pinkettes actions, Gaara placed his black trench coat on the hook near the apartment door before pulling off his boots. He noticed that Sakura's footwear was also on the floor, although he wasn't entirely sure when she had taken them off. He walked round past the kitchen and into the living area where he found Sakura looking excitedly at his collection of CDs, occasionally pulling one out of the shelving and placing it on the small pile next to her.

"You need some in your car." she said simply, continuing her search.

She had been surprised when she entered the apartment. It barely looked like it was lived in, apart from the essential things. The living and kitchen area was open plan, sharing the same cream wall colour and dark wood flooring. The kitchen was pretty normal, ignoring the large fridge-freezer and the 8 hob cooker. What surprised her more was the living room.

A large dark leather sofa took up most of the middle of the room, a glass coffee table sat in front of it. A _huge_ plasma TV was built into the wall in front of the sofa, under which was shelving containing more CD's and DVD's than you could shake a stick at. It was also home to a DVD player, CD player, two games consoles and a satellite TV box. She'd glanced at the DVD's and found that they were almost _all_ horror. Sakura didn't do too well where scary things were concerned and so backed off quickly in favour of the CD's.

"Mind if I take a shower?" He asked, not entirely sure why – it was his apartment after all.

"Sure, I'm fine here" He nodded, but watched her fiddle through his shelves for a minute or two before taking off in the direction of his bedroom, Shukaku grinning and saying something about inviting the pinkette to join him. He opened his door and stepped into his room, which was significantly different to the rest of the house. The walls were a blood red, as was the bed sheets. The carpet, curtains, furniture and bed frame were all black.

He pushed the door to and took off his shirt which he threw in the direction of the clothes basket, using his sand as an aid to avoid missing. He walked over to his wardrobe and pulled out another pair of black baggy pants, similar to the ones he was wearing, along with a black short sleeved shirt. He then walked through the second door in the room leading into the bathroom. It wasn't an en-suite, just had two doors, one to the short hall and the other to the main bedroom.

Placing his clean clothing on top of the closed toilet lid, he checked the locks on the doors before stripping out of his remaining clothes and turning on and getting into the shower, watching as a thin trail of sand washed down the drain with the water.

* * *

Sakura had finally finished her search of his CD collection and was happy with what she had picked out to place in his car for later use. She'd chosen a mixture of rock and metal, with the occasional emo band thrown in. She'd been surprised that Gaara's taste in music was so wide. He had almost everything ranging from classical through pop and dance all the way to death metal. Even she didn't listen to that much of a variety.

Currently, she was trying desperately to figure outexactly _which_ remote turned on the TV, which was on standby. She was sat in the middle of the sofa, seven remote controls on her lap, growing rather frustrated.

She had found that the smallest silver remote operated the blinds that covered the living area window, which was about 10ft wide and went from ceiling to floor – why _anyone_ needed a window that big she wasn't quite sure. The next smallest silver remote was for the various sets of lights dotted around the room. One button for the main light, another for the front lamps, another for the back lamps and so on, a little over the top if anything, and the largest black remote was for the CD player. This left her with four controls, three silver one black, and none of them wanted to turn the TV on. In fact, they didn't seem to want to do _anything._

Thoroughly annoyed at modern technology, she tossed the controls onto the seat beside her and flopped back against the sofa with her arms crossed and a pout on her face. It was now that her thoughts went back to her moment of bravery outside of the red heads door. He hadn't killed her on the spot, which she concluded to be a good thing, but he hadn't said or done anything else either. It seemed as though he was planning on ignoring it entirely. _'Hell no!'_ she thought _'He said he'd talk so he going to talk...and that includes about _those_ incidents as well'_

Her pout turned into a small smile and she sat herself up a little, refusing to look even remotely slob-like in the presence of Gaara, just as she heard the bathroom door unlock and open.

And that was when she lost all control of her jaw, which simply dropped.

Gaara stepped out of the bathroom fully dressed, save for his entirely unbuttoned shirt, rubbing at his damp hair with a small grey towel. His eye liner apparently didn't move, come hell or high water, but Sakura didn't exactly notice that. No, her eyes were firmly glued to his exposed chest and abs, which had looked great under a top, but looked even better under nothing. It only took the red head a few seconds to realise she was staring.

"It's rude to stare Sakura." He stated, watching with an amused smirk as she jumped slightly and flicked her eyes around the room in panic at being caught. He walked over to the Sofa, fastening his shirt as he went, and sat down on the seat to her left, raising an invisible eyebrow at the controls scattered to her right. "So, may I ask why you kissed me?" He turned to look at the pinkette and watched as she began to blush, diverting her eyes down into her lap.

"I... uh..." He smirked and the demon laughed lightly in his mind.

_**'Not so confident now, is she.' **_Gaara ignored Shukaku, instead twisting himself slightly on the sofa before gently lifting Sakura chin to look at him.

"You're special, Sakura." It was true, shehad managed the impossible after all. Holding back his usually automatic glare, he looked into the vibrant, confused green eyes.

"I... I am?" She asked, looking up slightly into the red heads own sea-foam orbs. She hadn't looked into them this close before and she noticed that they really were a rather unique colour. However, she didn't linger on it, Gaara was sat not inches from her, telling her she was _special_, while staring into her eyes in a way that would turn many a girl into mush. _'Sakura, darling, I do believe you have more important things to think about than the colour of his eyes...' _She thought, mentally rolling her eyes at herself.

"You must be." He replied. '_She's so...'_

_**'Hot? Sexy? Fuckable? Take your pick, boy' **_The demon grinned.

_'I was going to to say beautiful, but thank you for your input.' _he thought, being as mentally sarcastic with the 'thank you' as possible.

_**'No problem'**_

"Why?" She ignored the sudden far away look in his eyes in favour of continuing the conversation, but her brain stirred.

"Because I can't keep you out. Somehow you've made me care for you. Even Shukaku doesn't hate you and that's..." He stopped as he realised who he'd mentioned. '_I didn't just...'_

"Who's Shukaku?" she asked, mentally celebrating her not so small discovery.

_**'Yes, you did.' **_Shukaku laughed, highly amused.

"Well, he's..." He removed his hand from under her chin and dropped his gaze. He'd just _finally_ admitted he liked the girl, he was _not_ ready for a conversation about demons. Especially one about a certain annoying perverted demon that lived in his head. "He's... my... uncle." He could mentally feel Shukaku raising his eyebrow at his miserable attempt at a cover up, and Sakura didn't look like she believed him at all.

"He's your _uncle_?" She asked, apparently trying not to laugh at him. Knowing it was failing, he simply nodded his head and hoped she wouldn't go into it any further. Ha! This was _Sakura_.

"So... he's just your uncle and has nothing to do with your sand thing and why you disappear into your head all the time?" He blinked once. He blinked again. He probably sat there blinking at her for a whole minute, before he processed what she'd just said. The whole time Shukaku was in a similar state of 'what-the-fuck'. Sakura was simply sat smiling sweetly, obviously aware that she'd hit the nail right on the head.

"How did you..." Gaara frowned. How exactly _did _she know. Normal people simply didn't know stuff like that. Ever. Did they?

"My dad's hobby was researching demons and stuff. I guess I just picked up on a bit of the interesting stuff. Such as... people with demons inside them." She shrugged before smiling at him again.

"Oh." By this time the demon had recovered and was cackling loudly. Shukaku had to admit that the girl was rather interesting. "And it doesn't... bother you?" He asked. Worried that now he'd admitted that yes, he did have a demon inside of him, Sakura would turn tail and run like the wind.

"Nope. Why would it? You're still who you are." Gaara smiled. He was actually happy for once. Automatically he tried to hide that he was smiling but the pinkette wasn't having any of it. Cautiously but quickly, she moved her hand to bring the red head to look at her again, returning the smile. "Don't hide from me Gaara. Please."

He nodded slightly, flicking his eyes up to meet hers before he slowly leaned forwards and brushed his lips and hers together. He watched as she she seemed to stop in shock for a second before she let her eyes slip closed and leaned into it, allowing it to become a more solid kiss. He felt his own eyes close and moved his arms to wrap around her waist, closing the small gap between them on the sofa.

He absently realised that Shukaku had receded, rather than stay to be his usual perverted self. Slowly, he moved his lips against her, caressing them gently but keeping it simple. Almost innocent, forcing himself not to push it too far. Especially after the recent Uchiha incident. He pulled away and watched as her eyes fluttered back open, bringing a hand up to stroke her bangs out of her face. He just given away his first actual, proper kiss and he didn't care.

He didn't care about his life prior to this.  
He didn't care that he was in yet another school.  
He didn't care that some weird pink haired girl had broken through his barriers.  
And he most certainly didn't care that said girl was currently almost sat on his knee, twirling her fingers in his messy red hair.

All he cared about was that he'd actually found a little bit of happiness and he was never letting her go.

Deep within his mind he and his demon agreed on one thing.

Pain would know no bounds for anyone who hurt their rose.

* * *

**So... was it bad?  
**I had a total brain meltdown when trying to write this. **:(**

**Please review. Even if it's a complaint at my total lack of brain power.**

**xx**


	10. Martial Arts

**Ya'll must be sick of hearing this now but i'm really really REALLY sorry about the wait! :(  
I'll admit, it was my fault this time. I was bored with it and couldn't be bothered writing for a while.  
It wasn't fair on you guys and i'm REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry! :'(  
Won't happen again. Promise.** new chapter. Yay!  
I'm about set for where i'm wanting this to go now after all the messing around of connecting the _beginning_ to the _middle_ to the _end_.  
But now i have... a **plan!** -_ish._

Aside from that,

**Well, i hope you like it.  
**I didn't spend until half 3 in the morning writing this out of guilt for making you wait for so long, just for you guys to hate it.  
You will read it!  
You will like it!  
You will review it!

**Ok then. On with the show...uh...chapter. **

**Much Love! Kitty .x.**

* * *

The new-found couple had stayed at the expensive apartment for longer that either of them had expected. Gaara had only been wanting to change his clothes yet they'd stayed for hours, simply sitting on the dark leather sofa, until Sakura had noticed that they only had half an hour until classes started. She hadn't really wanted to leave, she was more than happy curled up against the redhead, but Hinata would have thrown a fit if she'd skipped and left her without a partner for the science project.

So now the pinkette was sat in her first class of the day, trying not to pass out as her dark haired friend reluctantly dissected the frog they had been given. It might not have been so bad if she couldn't feel a certain pair of dark eyes watching her from across the classroom.

Sakura only had 3 lessons with Sasuke; Science, Gym – which she had next – and Citizenship, which thankfully she only had once a week and that was last on a Wednesday and easily skipped, since all the notes could be found on the school computers.

"Is he still watching?" she asked Hinata, not daring to look across herself because the last time she had been met by his stare.

"If that's what you want to call it, Saku." Hinata replied, only just managing to keep to her usual shy self, but oh how she wanted to wipe that smirk of his face again. Sakura grimaced and ducked down further in her seat glaring at the clock on the wall which stubbornly refused to go any faster. True, her next lesson was Gym which was with Sasuke but Gaara also shared the lesson with her and although they'd decided to keep their relationship quiet in school, she didn't doubt that Sasuke would keep well away from her while her red haired bodyguard was nearby.

She was distracted from her thoughts on her next lesson when Hinata suddenly passed out, she never had been good with blood or internal organs – human or otherwise. The pinkette couldn't help but smile as Naruto darted across the classroom and scooped her friend up before dashing out the door to the nurses office without even stopping to ask. The teacher, the blonde's guardian, Mr Umino simply shook his head and smiled before looking to Sakura and nodding his head towards the half dissected frog. She sighed before standing up and continuing her friends work.

By the time to bell finally rang she was just about ready to pass out herself, if only to be taken away from the view of the Uchiha. Quickly clearing away the equipment she was using and grabbing her things, she made a dash for the door, but her escape attempt was impeded by a strong arm wrapping around her waist and pulling towards the end of the corridor. She didn't even have to guess who it was and so automatically began to struggle against his arm, knowing that he wouldn't want to make a scene in the school.

Unfortunately, his arm held fast and before she knew it she had her back against the end locker with his pale arms at either side of his head blocking an escape, so she settled for glaring at him. She watched as once again his eyes trailed down her body, lingering on certain areas, but managed to keep calm with the knowledge that there were enough people around to deter him from trying anything.

"Hello, my Sakura." He said smoothly, slowly moving one hand to run his fingers down the side of her face.

"What do you want?" She asked, turning her head from his touch and looking up the corridor, hoping that someone would save her.

"You already know what I want, love, I want you back."

"Well that's not going to happen, Sasuke." She responded, still watching the other people in the hall. She flinched slightly when the ravens hand held her chin and pulled her to look at him again.

"Why ever not" He smirked "We both know that you're just being stubborn." He smirked and leaned towards her, still cupping her face to stop her from turning away.

"I'm _taken_, Sasuke." She said, glaring at him. His eyes widened slightly before turning into a frown.

"Who?" He demanded, his usually dark eyes flashing red before fading back to black

"I honestly don't see how that is any of your business. Now if you don't mind I have another class." the pinkette snapped, trying to move the tall boy away from her. However, Sasuke wouldn't move. Instead he pushed himself up against the pinkette and brought his face within millimetres of hers.

"Of course it's my business, you belong to me." He smirked and moved to close the gap between himself and the pinkette, who pushed back against the locker and squeezed her eyes shut, but before he could steal the kiss she vanished in a swirl of sand.

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes a few seconds later and was surprised to find herself looking into the sea foam eyes of her recently acquired boyfriend. Taking a moment to notice that they were standing around the corner from the Gym, and that the corridor was empty, she buried herself in the red heads chest and relaxed as his arms wrapped protectively around her, one hand smoothing her hair. He didn't say anything. He didn't have to.

The second bell rang, signalling that students should be in their classes, and Gaara gently took his arms from around the pinkette and pulled away, tucking one of her bangs behind her ear as he did so. Not wanting Sakura to be late, he guided her round the corner and watched her go in the the female changing room before leaning back against the wall and waiting for her. Gaara didn't need to get changed because he refused to take part in Gym, especially when they were doing anything martial arts related, lest he accidentally kill someone or, God forbid, Shukaku got too involved.

In the changing rooms Sakura found a still recovering Hinata. She had been advised to sit out of gym by the school nurse, but the navy haired girl never missed a gym lesson. Sakura was pretty sure it had something to do with Naruto being in the class.

The pinkette quickly changed into her gym uniform, consisting of black -almost- hot pants and a red spaghetti top. In all honesty she despised it. At the beginning of the year someone had the bright idea of letting the _boys_ choose the schools gym clothes, including the girls. An almost non existent pair of shorts was the result. They had originally chosen a bikini top for the girls to wear but a firm line was drawn.

She stuffed her normal clothes into her bag and walked over to the door where Hinata was waiting for her. Together they left the changing room and the pinkette noticed Gaara was no longer by the door. '_Either in the gym or killing Sasuke'_ she guessed. Now joined by Naruto, Neji and Tenten, the group made there way up he short hall and into the large sports hall where most of the other students already were. She felt a elbow jab softly at her side and turned to Hinata who smiled before glancing across the room. Sakura followed her view and held back a laugh when she saw Gaara with a mixture of irritation and fear on his face as their gym instructor, who they called Gai, welcomed him to the class in his usual manner of 'glomping' the student.

"I'll be back in a minute" she said, earning a smile from Hinata. She had told the female Hyuga about her and Gaara at the beginning of science. She trusted her friend not to tell anyone else.

Quickly, the pinkette made her way towards Gaara and her over-enthusiastic teacher. She wondered for a moment if he was related to Lee. They looked pretty similar and both had a taste for green clothing – not to mention the random speeches about youth and such. In fact, that was where Sakura walked into the 'conversation' between the two.

"-such a youthful and energetic new student! I can hardly hold back my tears of joy! I must get you a uniform, perhaps one of these wonderful green jumpsuits?!" Gai was holding the red head by the shoulders, beaming brightly.

"Hn." Was Gaara's reply. He'd decided that forcefully removing the teacher from himself wouldn't be a good idea, yet he seemed to be getting ever closer to re-thinking that evaluation.

"Um, Gai?" The shiny, black haired teacher turned to address Sakura and instantly grinned, letting go of Gaara who held in a sigh of relief but sent a small smile of gratitude to his pink haired rescuer. "Garra doesn't take part in Gym, he-"

"-I changed my mind." She was interrupted by the red head who was glaring in the direction of the door. Turning slightly she saw that Sasuke had just walked in. He glanced at her and smirked before walking in the direction of his usual Gym partner, Suigetsu.

"That's just wonderful! Deciding to contribute your youth and love to today's lesson!" Gai exclaimed, startling Sakura slightly. "I shall get you a uni-"

"No thank you" injected Gaara before walking past Sakura and leaning against the wall, indicating that he was done talking for now. Gai looked momentarily upset before once again spinning to face Sakura who suddenly realised she was within glomping range. Luckily she was saved when the other gym teacher entered the hall.

"Right!" shouted the black haired, red eyed, female instructor. "Martial arts today, and I see we have a new student..." She glanced around until her eyes landed on Gaara who hadn't moved from his position against the wall and looked completely disinterested. "We need to see what level group you should go in so you're up first, anyone you'd prefer to fight?" she asked, entirely unaware that it was just what the red head was waiting for.

Sakura felt nervous as she watched her secret boyfriend push away from the wall and remove his long black coat, throwing onto a nearby bench. He had already removed his shoes, since they were banned in the sports hall. She watched him walk into the centre of the hall where the mats had been placed.

He turned towards the male students who had all gathered on the benches on one wall and smirked. He said nothing but locked his eyes with the Uchiha who visibly flinched under his gaze. Most of the students followed his eyes and chatter started up, some simply wondering why, others grinning and urging Sasuke to get up. Finally, he slowly stood, not moving his eyes from the red head.

Kurenai, the female instructor stepped forward. "Sasuke is one of the best in the class, perhaps you should challenge someone less experienced." It wasn't a question, but a statement. Gaara simply ignored it and stepped further onto the mats. Sakura worried her lip.

Realising that Gaara wanted to continue, Kurenai decided to let them at it. She stepped back, out of the way and stood at the opposite side of the matted area to Gai, who for once looked serious. Stepping forward, Sasuke removed his t-shirt while Gaara slipped out of his own, earning several squeals from girls around the room.

Sakura sat next to Hinata, still worrying her lip, hands clasped tightly together in her lap. Kurenai blow the whistle. Slowly the pair on the mats began to circle slowly to the right before suddenly coming together, hands and feet a blur as they fought. Looking closely, it was possible to make out the attacks, each one blocked by the other before going on the offence themselves.

Minutes ticked by and they still seemed to be even, no hits appeared to have landed on either of them and the class continued to spur them on. Out of nowhere, a kick slipped through Gaara defences and he staggered back slightly. Sasuke took the opportunity to up his attack and landed several more hits, including a harsh punch to the face before a kick to the stomach knocked Gaara to the floor.

"Look at you!" shouted the Uchiha, glaring down at his rival "You're nothing right now." He kicked the red head in the side, despite it being against the rules. Kurenai and Gai shared a glance but before they could move Sasuke was talking again. "Don't just fucking _lay_ there! Where's your sand Gaara?! You're fucking pathetic without it!" With that he turned away to walk back to his his seat but stopped when the hall was filled with dark laughter.

_'Find something amusing?'_

_**'Why do you not fight, boy?'**_

_'Where have you been for the last ten minutes, demon?'_

_**'Watching you toy with him' **_Gaara grinned and Shukaku continued to laugh, pleased with his influence on his container.

The class tried to take everything in as they watched Gaara still laying on the floor, laughing. Slowly he began to sit up, still laughing, eyes wide and glaring at the Uchiha's back. Despite the injuries he should have had, he stood without flinching, as if the fight had never happened. Sasuke turned round.

Sakura watched on, too scared to move. No one in the room knew what Gaara could do except her and Sasuke and she was pretty sure the raven was in no to position to stop things. Gaara was pissed. She could practically see the anger radiating from him.

"Nothing, am I?" seethed the red head. "Pathetic, am I?" he took a step towards the Uchiha and stopped, sending him a truly evil grin. "You want to see _sand_, Sasuke?" He laughed again and Sasuke took a step back, suddenly worried that Gaara _would_ reveal his secret in front of everyone. In the blink of an eye the red head was in front of the raven and with a movement so fast no one in the hall could follow it, he was holding him face down on the floor by his hair and a knee in his back. The room was silent and everyone seemed to be froze in position, including the two teachers.

"Be careful who you piss off Uchiha." Growled the demon carrier, digging his knee harder into the boys back. He grabbed the front of his black hair and pulled his head back, stretching his throat painfully causing him to cry out. "You will not touch her again, understand!" He let go of the Uchiha and stood up.

_**'You're letting him live?' **_The demon sounded outraged and about ready to finish the job himself.

'_I can't exactly kill him here, in school, in front of the entire class. Nor would I want Sakura to see exactly how many ways I can damage someone without killing them until I feel like it.' _He answered.

He was about to walk out of the gym and leave the class and teachers to remove the Uchiha from the floor when there was a groan followed by what sounded very similar to 'fuck you'. He turned back around walked to the ravens head and pulled him to a standing position, once again by his hair.

"What did you say?" His voice was low and threatening as he looked at the Uchiha who was yet to recover from having his face slammed into the floor.

"Fuck you." he repeated, this time more clearly.

_**'Do you **_**feel ****_like killing him yet?" _**

Gaara glared at the boy before releasing his hair in favour of grabbing him by the throat and throwing him back down in the floor, this time on his back, and pressing forcefully down on his neck receiving a satisfying sound from Sasuke as his oxygen was cut off. That same sound roused the class and teachers from their shock. Gai shot forward and began trying to remove Gaara from Sasuke while Kurenai began moving students out of the door and rounded up the few that hung back. One of them being Sakura.

She was mid-panic when Kurenai tried moving her from the room, telling her to get changed and head to her next lesson. Even in her state, she couldn't help but think it was a stupid suggestion. She refused to move and watched as Gai struggled to pull Gaara back as he continued to hold Sasuke's throat down.

Before she knew it she was running back across the hall to Gaara, ignoring Kurenai who tried to grab her. "Sakura, it's not safe!" She shouted. "We'll make sure Sasuke is ok!" The pinkette almost turned and shouted at her for that, but instead continued running until she was knelt down of the floor next to Gaara, gently holding the wrist connected to the hand on the ravens neck.

"Gaara, please stop." She asked. Trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. "He's not worth it. Gaara, please." She moved her free hand to pull his face to look at her and was worried when she saw the look in his eyes. He looked almost possessed, but it was still him, not Shukaku. Sakura was thankful for that. "Let him go. Please."

Slowly, the fire him his eyes subsided and she felt his hand pull back from Sasuke's throat. She began to panic when the raven didn't move. He didn't even seem to be breathing. She wasn't worried about him, hell no, she was worried about what would happen to Gaara if he was dead.

Coming down from his rage, Gaara saw the hidden panic in Sakura's eyes and mentally cursed. He looked back at his victim and then at Gai who was checking the ravens pulse. It was there. Gaara knew it was without checking. He was also breathing, only just, but he was breathing. Getting annoyed with Gai's attempts to check someone's pulse, Gaara leaned forward and rolled Sasuke into the recovery position before standing up. He took Sakura's hand and pulled her up before pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her. He didn't care if there was two teachers and an unconscious _bastard_ in the room.

"I'm sorry Sakura." he said softly. He was aware that the female teacher was watching them with a surprised expression and he had heard her call to Sakura that Sasuke would be ok. He held back a smirk at her mistake.

"You scared me." the pinkette whispered.

"I know. I'm sorry." He ran his fingers through her hair soothingly as she leaned against him.

Beside them, Sasuke groaned before coughing dryly. Kurenai walked over and stopped beside Gaara. "I think you have an explanation." She said before turning and walking towards the gym door, obviously expecting him to follow.

Gaara let go of Sakura and quickly kissed her forehead and pushed her bangs out of her eyes. "I'll be back later." he said, offering her a small, rare smile before following the black haired female out of the hall.

Sakura looked down at the Uchiha who was now awake but looking a little worse for wear. Gai stood up.

"I'm going to go and make sure the school nurse has been informed of our fallen comrade! Please stay with him until I return!" With that, he jogged from the gym, leaving one pink haired girl and one wheezing and irritated boy.

* * *

**You know the drill by now: Review review review!**

kaythxbai  
xxxxxxxx


	11. Saying Sorry

**Oh my, that took a lot longer that i expected. **I got so far with it then didn't know what to write. I've been adding bits to it every other and finally, _finally,_ managed to come up with this chapter.  
**It seems the whole story might end up being a _lil_ longer than i originally thought...** but that can't be helped.

**If there's a few spelling mistakes/typo's/fuck up's try not to kill me for them. **It's 3am, i've just writting all this up and i'm _dying_. I have to be up at 8 for work and i'm going to be utterly dead and probably cut my hands off with the guillotine machine. Great fun. How am i going to type more chapters then, huh?

Anyways. Hope it's ok.

**Much love- .x.Kitty.x.**

**Please R&R!! -Mwah!**

* * *

Standing in the quiet gym hall, next to the Uchiha who she could feel glaring at her, Sakura finally came to a decision on her least favourite place to be. It ranked above all her imagined places, such as being in front of a speeding train or 8000ft in the air with no parachute. It also beat her own experience of being sent to Tsunade's office when the woman had run out of Sake, and the previous holder of the worst place; private fitness training with Gai. Yes, she had decided and right up there, above all the horrible places in the history of the world was: Being alone in a room with _Sasuke._ Oh, and would you look at that, here was the nightmare come true.

She shifted her weight onto her right side and looked down at the raven haired boy. He was glaring at her as she had thought, he didn't look too happy. She wasn't sure if it was because of Gaara, the humiliation, the near death experience or her, but she didn't rightly care. All she wanted to for Gai to get his ass back to the gym so she could bolt. She flicked her eyes to the open door of the gym to see that the corridor was deserted and no sign of Gai.

"Guess there's no question about who you're taken by." The pinkette was startled by how normal Sasuke's voice sounded. She hadn't thought he'd be able to to talk after his recent beating, but he'd stopped wheezing and had sat up whilst she was looking at the door. "He's _insane_, Sakura."

"Says the guy who thought it would be a good idea to annoy him during a fight" she muttered, once again looking to the door. She didn't care who came. Anyone would do. Gaara, Gai, Tsunade, a zombie, even Rock Lee would be better than no one.

"I'm serious, love".

"Don't call me that!" She snapped. "And Gaara is _not_ insane." She glared at the raven who held her gaze for a few seconds before dropping it and leaning back, extending his arms behind him for support.

"Right, so a guy that controls sand, tries to kill people and stalks his love interest through the school grounds isn't insane?" He struggled not to roll his eyes. He hadn't wanted to be sarcastic, he was trying to be serious.

"Stalking? Love interest?" Sasuke looked up at the pinkette who was frowning.

"You. This morning." If she could talk in one and two word sentences, so could he.

Her frown smoothed out for a matter of seconds before it was back and she glowered at the Uchiha. "And how, Sasuke, would you know that?"

"I wanted to talk to you, so I followed you from your dorm. I noticed him practically shadowing you and decided to talk later."

"After science class you mean?"

"That... I fucked up. I was going to talk, love, but then you said you was taken and I got possessive". He pushed himself up off the ground and stood up, surprising the pinkette by keeping the few feet distance between them. However, she didn't miss the 'love' part of the sentence, nor the 'possessive' part and that was how she came to pushing herself forward and punching him. In the face.

"You don't fucking _own_ me, Sasuke!" Oh, she was pissed. So much so that she almost missed the quiet whisper of 'I know' due to the sound of her heart thumping in her ears. She stared at him incredulously for a second before voicing her thoughts. "What?"

"I don't own you." he said, one hand covering the eye that had been brutalized by the pinkettes fist. "I screwed up. I thought you were just being stubborn and if I pushed enough you'd take me back, but instead I upset you. I was a fucking idiot and I'm sorry."

And there was silence.

Well, for a few seconds.

"What?" She asked again. Sasuke sighed and moved his hand from his eye and blinking a few times.

"I said, 'I screwed up. I thou-"

"No, not that bit" The pinkette interrupted, "The last bit."

"Um, I was a fucking idiot and I'm sorry?" he guessed, figuring he was right when her frown lessened and the smallest, most tiniest smile appeared.

"The last two words."

"I'm sorry" he repeated.

* * *

Gaara was seated in the pastel blue gym office, massaging the bridge of his nose in irritation - Or at least that's how it looked to the female teacher sat across from him. In reality he was trying to relieve the headache that was steadily forming due to the loud amused laughter in his head. Trust the demon to find his current situation funny.

_'Will you shut up. You_r _incessant_ _cackling is driving me mad!' _

_**'Oh, but it's hilarious! Who knew mere humans could be so entertaining!' **_

_'Of all the things...'_

Gaara was less that happy. Much less. After Kurenai had finished berating him for his behaviour, she had taken it upon herself to decide that the best cause of action was to call in his guardians, but that wasn't the reason Gaara found himself dealing with a highly amused demon. The cause of Shukaku's amusement was that the guardians who was now apparently on their way to give Gaara a 'good scolding' were the red heads siblings. One of which was one of the most laid back people on God's green earth while the other was likely to glare Kurenai to death, although not nearly as well as Gaara, before marching off to give the Uchiha another beating.

To the demon carrier the whole thing was a giant waste of time, not to mention that he knew Sakura was alone with Sasuke after seeing Gai jog down the corridor past the window of the office, which was the only non-fire door exit from the gym. He didn't like that, even if the raven was still out of it, which he probably wasn't.

He'd just watched Kurenai finish filling out the accident report forms when there was a light but sharp knock at the door and he held back a smirk when the teacher jumped in her seat. She folded the report and walked over to the door to open it, revealing a calm faced female and a grinning man standing behind her.

"Gaara's guardians?" The red eyed women asked, inviting them into the room at the same time.

"Yeah" Answered the male "I'm his brother, Kankuro, and Temari here is his sister."

The two walked into the room and Temari nodded a greeting to her brother while the older male simply continued to grin and slouched down in the spare seat next to Gaara. He would have offered the seat to the blonde but knew she'd prefer to stand. Kurenai remained by the open door while they entered the room and made themselves comfortable.

"Well, I explained what happened over the phone so I'll leave you to talk this out on your own. I'll be back in 20 minutes or so since I have to check the changing rooms." She gave a small smile to the other female before walking out of the office and closing the door behind her.

There was silence in the room as the three occupants listened to her footsteps grow quieter and more faint until they disappeared altogether. That was when Kankuro started howling with laughter and Temari swiped the accident report and began reading through the more detailed version of what happened, a smirk on her face that occasionally turned into an amused smile. She was an unusually quick reader.

The red head sighed and tuned into what his brother was saying between huge gasps for air and laughing.

"You almost killed someone" He laughed "It's only been one day!" The brunette laughed harder, clutching his side where the stitch was starting to kick in, only making breathing harder. Gaara smirked and looked back to his sister who appeared to be nearing the end of the report and was wearing a rather satisfied expression until it became a small frown.

"You let a girl stop you from doing the bastard some real damage? Are you feeling ok, Panda?" Gaara glared at her for the nickname but didn't say anything since she wouldn't stop. Next to him, Kankuro was still laughing, now muttering something about girl power and Gaara going soft.

"I'm fine. Sakura is my girlfriend." Ok, that felt weird. He'd never referred to anyone as his girlfriend and he was actually rather surprised he hadn't said 'Sakura is mine'. The weird wasn't a bad weird, more of a warm, bubbly, 'Shukaku just turned into a kitten' weird.

"Gaara..." Temari's frown had deepened and Kankuro had stopped his laughter, now opting to almost mirror his sisters expression. Gaara knew why they were concerned.

"She knows." He said simply, causing his brother to fall off his chair and Temari to shout 'what' as quietly as she could.

"Gaara, it doesn't matter if she knows, although I'm surprised, if Shukaku-" Gaara cut her off by raising his hand. The three had become closer over the last few years, ever since 'The Event' but the older two were still wary of their brother and didn't like to push him.

"The demon is just as fond of Sakura as I am, he won't hurt her and and god help anyone that does."

His older siblings gaped at him, Temari from across the desk, Kankuro from his position on the floor. He could understand why they were catching flies. He recalled having a similar reaction himself. The blonde recovered from the surprise first, finally blinking and closing her mouth. Kankuro followed suit and righted himself, climbing back into his seat. After a few seconds Temari smiled and focussed her eyes on the red head.

"She must be something special, I mean, for Shukaku to actually _like_ her. Plus, you've only been here two days." She paused for a minute before grinning and almost squealing "Awww, our little Panda is in love!" in a very un-Temari like manner. Gaara sighed and stood up from his seat, once again ignoring his sisters nickname for him, and walked towards the office door.

"Where are you going?" Both his siblings asked at the same time.

"Sakura has been left alone in the gym with Sasuke. Neither myself nor Shukaku are comfortable with this." He opened the door, stepped out and began walking up the corridor in the direction of the gym, he could hear his brother and sister following a few feet behind him.

* * *

"I still think he's insane, Sakura." The pinkette sighed and ran a hand through her hair in irritation. Sure, the Uchiha had apologised for what he had done but he was being as stubborn as a mule with the 'Gaara _is _insane – Gaara _isn't_ insane' argument and Sakura was getting annoyed again.

"Honestly, he's not going to hurt me! He only attacked you because you were being such an ass, what did you expect! I still can't believe you provoked him!" She stomped over to the benches and picked up Sasuke's shirt before throwing it at him, her aim being perfect and it hitting him in the face. "I didn't think you were bloody suicidal!"

"Same goes for you, love, what if you accidentally say something he doesn't like and he turns on you? What then? I just don't want to see you hurt." He argued back, well aware he'd added the taboo nickname. He pulled his t-shirt over his head and took the few steps over to where the pinkette was standing, her hands on her hips and glaring. "I don't trust him with you, but you're safe with me, I promise." Sakura seethed.

"For fucks sake _Uchiha._" She growled, pushing past him, finally loosing her temper and determined to leave his company, if only to avoid punching him again. She could cope -just- with him going on about her boyfriend being insane but the attempts to get her back were really annoying her and the last one had given her a firm push over the edge. "I am _not_ going to get back with you. Leave it!"

She got a few more steps towards the gym doors when her wrist was caught and she was pulled to a stop. Unimpressed and raging, she spun round to yell at the boy but was beaten to it by a comfortingly familiar voice and turned back to the door.

"I suggest you let go of her. Now." The red head said, entering the gym with his siblings close behind.

Sakura looked back at the raven who was scowling but slowly released her wrist. His eyes flicked back to her and a half smiled. "I was going to say 'fine'." He murmured "You win, Saku, but I don't like him."

"You don't have to." She replied.

"True. If it's the best I can get, I want to be your friend – if you'll let me." His eyes floated to the floor as he finished the sentence, he'd never felt so unsure of himself in his whole life. Usually he wasn't the one asking for friendship, it was the other way round. This was entirely new and he suddenly realised how awful people must feel when they want to be his friend and he tells them to fuck off. He was halfway through thinking off all the things he'd said to people when he suddenly had half the wind knocked out of him and he looked down to see his pink haired ex-girlfriend hugging him. He avoided looking over to the red head, lest he be turned to ash by the glare, and lightly wrapped his arms around her.

"Thank you" she mumbled into his t-shirt.

"What for?"

"Not being an ass any more." She grinned, pulling back from the hug. Ok, so she forgave people rather easily but it wasn't something she saw as a flaw in herself since she usually had reasons. Sasuke, despite everything, she knew was a decent person. She agreed that he'd fucked up, badly, but she still remembered how he could be. How he was before they got together, when they were friends. She glanced back to Gaara and the people with him who were standing a few feet into the gym from the door. "I think you better go, you have English, right?"

He smiled at her, impressed that she still remembered his timetable. "Unfortunately, yes, and I was thinking the same thing. Sand boy looks like he wants to kill me and Gai might be back soon. Not sure which is worse. I'll see you later. Be careful." She rolled her eyes at the 'be careful' but smiled back and turned to watch him walk up towards the gym doors before following a few steps behind.

Sasuke lifted his gaze to meet that of the red head and was fixed with the very glare he had been avoiding ever since Gaara had arrived back in the gym. He fought not to look away, instead forcing himself to glare back even if he knew it was no where near as fierce, since it made him feel a little better. Just a little. He stopped walking dead in front of the sand controller, faces only centimetres apart. He heard Sakura's steps quicken slightly and the two people with the red head moved slightly closer.

"If you hurt her" he said slowly, loud enough for the others to hear "I swear I will find some way to kill you." With that he moved to step around Gaara and began to walk forwards but was forced to stop when a wall of sand formed in front of him, blocking his path.

"If I hurt Sakura." Gaara said, in the same slow voice the Uchiha had used "I will tell you how." He turned and looked at the Uchiha who frowned for a second as he took in the words before nodding in silent agreement and leaving the gym not even realising the sand wall had disappeared without him noticing.

* * *

**And... done. Well, that chapter anyway.**

**I guess some of you are now going 'ooooo Sasukes being nice, Yay.'  
Or  
'OMG she made Sasuke be nice, thats fucked up the story'**

**But it hasn't. This is still going with the original-ish plan, so it's all good.**

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW. **


	12. So Troublesome

**Okai... so my only excuse for the 2 month wait is a rather feeble 'i had writers block'**  
Which i did - but 2 months is a damn long time and i apologise.

**That said, welcome to chapter 12 of Written in Sand.**

**I hope you like it and thankyou for sticking with me despite the stupidly HUGE wait between the last chapter and now.  
**I understand the annoyance it causes, trust me, but sometimes it's really really hard to figure out what to write.  
**_I did update the first 6(?) chapters thought, so i wasn't just being lazy!!!!! ^_^_**

**Anyhoo! On with the show...uh, story.**

**Much Love - Kitty.x.**

* * *

After watching the Uchiha leave the gym hall, Gaara turned to face his pink haired girlfriend who was standing a few meters away wringing her hands nervously, either worried about what he would say concerning Sasuke or because she was under the gazes of his two siblings who he now realised were stood on either side of him, arms crossed, Temari glaring at the girl while Kankuro had the hugest, stupidest and possibly the scariest grin _ever_ across his face. He held back the need to sigh and instead walked towards Sakura, silently checking her over for any injuries. She smiled slightly as he approached and rolled her eyes when she noticed the concern in his eyes as they ran over her.

"I'm fine, Gaara." She said "He didn't hurt me, we just talked for a bit."

He stopped a few feet from her and raised one invisible eyebrow in question, "Talked?"

"Yeh, he realised what an ass he was being and apologised. Said he wanted to be friends."

He frowned. _'So that's why she hugged him, but how can she forgive him so easily?'_

**_'Don't ask me, boy. I'm ready to kill him when you are.'_** Gaara wasn't talking to the demon, but as usual when the red head moved to his thoughts Shukaku was there to give his opinion.

_'No, if she's happy then I will ignore him. Plus, it seems that Uchiha and I have come to agreement.'_

_**'That you will instruct him how to kill you if you hurt the girl? Some agreement.'**_

_'I think my side of it was firmly put in place earlier. I doubt I need to tell him that I will kill him, after already proving that I am more than capable of doing do.'_

_**'True, but it's always good to make the threat known.' **_Shukaku grinned, he was all about being violent and threatening. As far as he was concerned life wasn't any fun unless you scared people. Gaara ignored the demon, instead stepping closer to Sakura. "I don't trust him, he's dangerous."

Sakura gaped for a second before glaring at the red head. "How very odd..." she said, placing her hands on her hips.

"What?" he asked.

"He said something very similar about you after you tried _killing_ him" She answered, still glaring and determined to get her point across. If she could deal with a closed off, demon carrier for a boyfriend she could deal with an egotistical Uchiha for a friend and was therefore going to defend him. It was the sound of laughter coming from behind Gaara that reminded them both of the other people in the room, one of which was leaning against the wall to steady himself while he laughed. Gaara didn't even bother turning around.

"Kankuro, what do you find so amusing?" he asked in a flat bored tone, although he already knew what it was and it caused a small smile to appear on his lips.

"I don't think she's what he was expecting" said Temari "and is that your natural colour?"

Sakura blinked at the blonde girl who had been glaring at her not a few minutes previous, managing a nod in response before glancing at the recovering brunette and then back to Gaara waiting to be told who they were. They most certainly weren't his parents, although she wasn't actually sure if he had any since he lived alone.

"My siblings, Temari and Kankuro" he said, answering her silent question. Upon her introduction, the blonde walked forward and began to inspect the pinkette, who blushed when she realised she was still in her gym uniform. She couldn't help but feel slightly self concious in front of three fully clothed people, she couldn't remember seeing Gaara pick up his t-shirt but apparently he had since he was now wearing it. Temari seemed rather tom-boyish while the brown haired male was just plain weird – who in their right mind had their face tattooed?

"I think... I should go get changed." She said, glancing at her boyfriend who gave a small nod in agreement. He wasn't as bothered about what she was wearing as he was about his brother and sister. If Shukaku was accepting Sakura, he didn't need his siblings scaring her away. He needed to have words before she returned. He watched as the pinkette walked out of the gym, waiting a few moments to ensure she was out of earshot before glaring at his family members.

"I suggest you refrain from making Sakura feel uncomfortable. I don't think I need to explain what would happen if either of you upset her in any way." Temari and Kankuro had frozen at the glare he had sent them and had known they were in for a warning before he even started, but that didn't stop him scaring the hell out of them. They were both aware that Gaara made good his threats. The two older siblings nodded in unison, not daring to say anything against him or in their defence. With that, Gaara walked towards the doors of the gym and out of them, heading down the corridor to where Sakura would emerge from the girls changing room. He didn't need to check that they were following him.

_**'The Uchiha is not to be trusted'** _growled the demon.

'_Agreed'_

* * *

Sakura ran into the changing rooms and skidded to a halt when she found her friend and someone she hadn't expected sat on the bench waiting for her. Both girls looked up at the sound of her arrival, both looking rather relieved. The pinkette smiled at Hinata but frowned at the blond sat beside her, who's smiled faltered slightly. "Hey, Sakura." the blonde said quietly.

"What do you want, Ino?" She replied, walking to her gym locker and pulling out her clothes, followed by her school bag.

"To apologise... I- Hinata told me about Sasuke." she had barely finished her sentence when the pinkette sent a look of pure disbelief at the dark haired girl, clearing not understanding _why_ she would want to tell Ino anything, let alone that. The blonde began to defend Hinata before she could even open her mouth. "I noticed how worried she looked when Gai came out of the gym and I remembered what you were saying earlier, about being careful around Sasuke and I began to wonder if something had happened. I kinda... forced Hinata to tell me."

"What do you mean 'forced'?" Sakura asked, before even addressing the rest of what her once-friend had said. She didn't truly believe anyone could _force_ Hinata to do anything, but Ino was... well, Ino.

"S-she didn't exactly f-force me, Saku." Started Hinata "She was really w-worried." She navy haired girl fiddled with her fingers in her lap. Ino scoffed slightly when Hinata said she was worried but the pinkette watched her eyes and they told a different story.

"Hinata, do you mind if I talk to Ino alone?" Sakura asked before slipping out of her gym top, into her own top and spraying herself madly with her deodorant. The silver eyed girl nodded and stood up, grabbed her bag and walked out of the changing rooms, quite happy to wait outside while the other two talked everything out.

"So..." began Sakura "Why the sudden concern?" Ino shifted a little on the bench before brushing her hair from her eyes and looking at the floor near the pinkettes feet.

"Just because we fell out doesn't mean I want something bad to happen to you. I might be a bitch sometimes but you should know I don't really mean it, I never did." She looked up at Sakura though sad, blue eyes, "I never wanted us to stop being friends".

"You we're drunk when you slept with Sasuke, weren't you." Sakura stated rather than asked. She caught the surprised expression on the blondes face which was clearly asking how she knew and she answered the silent question with a shrug. "I have my ways. At first I was more angry at Sasuke but then you started to rub it in my face, like you'd done something great by sleeping with my boyfriend, whilst drunk, when you were supposed to be my best friend." Once she finished speaking she quickly changed into the rest of her normal clothes and stuffed her Gym kit in her bag. Ino was quiet for a few minutes, seemingly taking in what Sakura had said.

"I acted like that because I thought you already hated me." The blonde whispered.

"If you had spoken to me yourself and told me the truth rather than me finding out through others, I wouldn't have been so mad. I'd have forgiven you and then castrated Sasuke for using you like that. I didn't blame you until you started bragging." explained the pinkette, recalling how her ex-best friend had seemingly gone out of her way to point out that she had slept with Sasuke at every given opportunity. The only reason that she hadn't introduced her fist to Ino's face had been because she knew she the blonde was probably feeling like hell after loosing her virginity whilst drunk, even if it was to the Uchiha.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think." Ino said softly, sad eyes glistening with the tears fighting to surface.

"That's obvious." The pinkette replied "but then again you never do. I suppose we can blame that on your hair colour." She smiled a little. When they had been friends she had often teased Ino about being a 'dumb blonde'.

"When are you going to report Sasuke?" Ino asked.

"I'm not. Sasuke and I made up. He wants us to be friends." Sakura answered, slinging her bag over her head so the strap was on her left shoulder while the bag hung by her right thigh. She flicked her eyes back to her ex-friend and found Ino to be recovering from shock, her jaw still hanging open.

"What!? And you actually believe him? Sakura, he tried to _rape _you and you're just going to act like it never happened and be _friends _with him?!" The blonde stood up and looked at the other girl incredulously. "I'm getting Hinata!" She stated before turning and walking towards the changing room exit, leaving Sakura too stunned to move until she was almost out the door.

"Wait! Ino, Wait!" The pinkette yelled, quickly chasing after the blonde who was about to land her in a whole load of trouble with her best friend. Apparently her legs weren't fast enough, as when she got out of the door Hinata was wearing a similar expression of disbelief as Ino had been not two minutes before. She was all set to explain the situation to her best friend when she noticed that Gaara and his siblings were standing in the hall not far from the girls changing room, Kankuro had lost his grin and looked rather annoyed while Temari's expression rivalled that of Principal Tsunades when she had found her brother, Jiraiya, trying to hide camera's in the girls showers. "Ino... what exactly did you say?" Sakura hissed.

"Uh... that Hinata should talk some sense into you because you'd forgivien Sasuke for trying to rape you" the blonde replied.

"Saku, h-have you gone _mad_?" asked the dark haired girl, now recovered from the shock and fully prepared to lock her best friend in their dorm until she became sane again. After the events of the last 24 hours, Hinata couldn't understand why the pinkette would want anything to do with Sasuke, never mind be friends with him.

"No, I haven't" the pinkette snapped, getting annoyed "He apologised. Sasuke Uchiha said he was _sorry. _When in the history of earth has that ever happened before? When has he ever admitted to being wrong?" The two girls didn't say anything. There was nothing to say because at the end of it all Sakura was right. The Uchiha never apologised for anything, never admitted he was wrong, even if it would make things easier for him. Even if he and everyone else knew he was wrong he never damaged his pride and admitted it, until now.

"I still don't t-trust him, Sakura." said Hinata. "We'll t-talk later, I-I need to g-get to class." That said, the shy girl made her way down the gym corridor and into the main school building, going out of sight once she'd turned the corner. No one else knew the Hyuga girl well and so Sakura was the only one who knew how annoyed and worried her friend really was. Sakura turned to face Ino who was glancing nervously at the three people standing a little up the corridor.

"Can't you do anything quietly? Anyone could have been in the corridor, Ino! The last thing I need is the school knowing!"Sakura said, her voice raised slightly.

"Maybe that would be a good thing, Sakura." Ino replied, "At least that way something would be done about Sasuke."

"Nothing needs to be done about Sasuke, everything is _fine_!" The pinkette argued back.

"Fine? Sakura, everything is _not_ fine. Can't you see how serious this is?"

"Normally, yes, but he's apologised! He realised he was being an idiot!"

"An apology doesn't change what he tried to do!"

Gaara stood with his arms folded and watched as the two girls continued with their battle of opinions. He didn't say anything but mentally he agreed with the blonde girl, Sasuke needed to be dealt with, although his method of doing so was probably a little different to that of Ino's. However, Sakura was quite adamant that the whole incident be forgotten and he had no intentions of upsetting her by burying the Uchiha under 10ft of sand, even if it would please both him and his demon. Besides, one person wasn't hard to keep track off.

"Why haven't you killed this guy yet? You barely let people get away with looking at you, never mind touching what is yours." whispered Temari, standing to his right and also watching the two girls who's voices were steadily rising. Gaara could feel the beginnings of a headache forming at his left temple.

"It's not what she wants." he replied.

"Wow Panda, you've surprised me." she whispered again. His eye twitched a little at the nickname but he managed to refrain from throttling her with his sand.

"How so?"

"I just expected you to be all controlling and stuff. You've really fallen for her." He ignored her for a few minutes, thinking over what she had said. She was right, he was rather controlling, especially when it came to those closest to him, yet he held no wish to make Sakura do anything she didn't want to. He figured that it came down to two things: his control and her happiness. At the end of it all, he would rather let her make her own choices than be the one to make his rose unhappy. Eventually he found his reply.

"I know." He was fairly sure his answer had Temari itching to hug him, and thought for a second that she would, when a loud bang echoed around the corridor and Gaara realised he had taken his eyes from the two girls, one of which had now disappeared through the door that was still recovering from the wrath of the one who had opened it, swinging freely on it's hinges in the door frame.

"You agree with me, right?" asked the remaining girl, sweeping her hair from her eyes. She was a little flushed after the verbal war and her blue eyes sparkled with anger and tears.

"I know I do." Muttered Kankuro from Gaara's side. "She always like that?" he asked, nodding towards the door that was slowly swinging to a stop.

"When she gets mad" Ino replied. "Are you two together now?" the blonde asked, looking at Gaara who simply nodded in reply. "Well you better look after her, or I'll set Tsunade on you. She's rather fond of forehead, being her god-mother and all." With the threat of the principal left hanging over Gaara's head, Ino turned and headed out through the same door as the pinkette.

Kankuro looked from the closing door to his brother and then back again, opening his mouth to speak but stopping before he said anything and pouting instead. Gaara sighed and nodded, causing the usual grin to appear on his brothers face who then quickly followed after Ino, who just happened to have caught Kankuro's eye. The brunette was almost to the doors when his sister shouted him and he turned around, raising an eyebrow. "Don't mention puppets." she grinned. He rolled his eyes and left the corridor. "I guess we'll just wait for your teacher to come back."

"Hn." Was all the reply she got before his sands wrapped around him and he disappeared from the corridor.

* * *

The students that were spending the remaining time of their free period chatting in the corridors scattered as an obviously raging pinkette stormed her way towards the front of the building, the angered expression on her face promising pain to anyone who dared get in her way or try and stop her. Unfortunately for one blonde student, she already needed to speak with him and wasn't going to let her pissed off state prevent her from helping out her best friend.

That was how the outgoing Naruto Uzumaki found himself backed against his locker and looking at what he thought to be his impending death. Also known as Sakura Haruno. "Naruto, Hinata told me about your date when she got back last night."

"Ah..did she?" he shrunk back a little further. He'd suffered a good few punches from the pinkette, one or two well aimed hits doing more damage than she actually intended. He didn't want to think about what she'd do now he'd probably upset her friend.

"Yes, she did. She said she fainted when you tried to kiss her." Nice and easy, straight to the point. She was so focussed on getting the conversation finished that she didn't even notice the blonde boy almost climbing into his locker in a bid to get away from her wrath.

"Yeh... um..."

"Don't worry about it. She does that sometimes. She really likes you, so ask her on another date and I'm sure everything will be fine." That done, she turned and continued on her way down the corridor, not even sparing a glance to the students that parted for her. Naruto blinked.

"Troublesome" muttered his friend beside him.

* * *

Sakura threw open the doors and stalked down the pathway in the opposite direction to her next class. Why? Ino would be there, and the pinkette didn't think should could take much more of the blonde girl's opinion on her decision. Sighing, she took the path that led to the gardens, albeit the opposite end to the pond – she didn't want to risk bringing up the whole thing after demanding it be forgotten. Besides, during the day the area of garden she was going to would be empty. Students only usually went there after school ended since it's a good walk from the main building.

She felt a little bad for storming off and leaving Gaara by the gym without saying a word, and she worried about the impression she'd made on his siblings. _'Great, just great_' She thought _'They probably think I'm a complete nut-job'_. She ran a hand through her hair, pushing her bangs back from her face. To say it was near winter, it was a remarkably nice day. The sky was cloudless and it was a fairly warm temperature, although it would probably cool back down by the evening.

Her pace had slowed to a calm walk and so it took her a little longer than usual to reach the right area of the garden. Not that it mattered, she didn't have any where she needed to be. No doubt she'd be pulled into Tsunades office for skipping a lesson. The pinkette thought the blonde principal worried too much. Ever since her parents had died her godmother and gone out of her way to make sure Sakura was doing ok. In the end she was. It had just taken a while.

Finally the dark wood, two seat bench came in to view at the edge of the flowerbeds. The area was pretty, even with most of the flowers gone for the winter. There was a few ever-green trees nearby and a scattering of different flowers that either forgot to retreat from the cold or were able to cope with it. Other than that it was just grass and soil, but it was peaceful. She settled herself on the bench, resting her bag next to her but not taking it off. Finally relaxing she breathed in and closed her eyes, listening to the chirping of birds in the trees and the gentle rustle of the wind.

Out of nowhere an arm slipped it's way round her neck and a hand clamped down over her nose and mouth with a piece of cloth. Automatically her hands reached up to pull at the hand but her vision was starting to swim and she could feel herself falling deeper into the darkness. Somewhere in her head a voice was screaming at her to fight, to elbow the person behind her, to struggle more against the grip, but her body was getting sluggish and the voice was becoming quieter. Slowly her eyes drifted shut and the last thing she saw before succumbing to sleep was a pair of obsidian eyes and raven hair.

* * *

**Ok, don't you guys glare at me. Yes, i can see you! Stop it!**

**Thats better. :)**

**So... the story is progressing -yay-. **

**Please review. I like reviews. They make me happy.  
**Unfortunatley they dont that the power to remove writers block. Damn.

**Next chapter already started!! :)  
I'm on a roll people! xD  
**(About bloody time too...)


	13. Damn Uchiha

**Not sure about this chapter. I must have sat and read it 5 times over and when i still couldn't figure out why i'm not sure, i decided to post it.**  
Probably me just being silly anyway. =]

**Enjoy, dearies!**

**Much Love - Kitty.x.**

* * *

Sakura awoke from her fogged sleep feeling like she had been hit by a speeding bus. Her head throbbed, her body ached and her eyes felt like they had been glued shut, though she could also feel a blindfold knotted tightly at the back of her head and mentally cursed whoever had tied it for they had also managed to pull strands of her hair into the knot which tugged painfully at her scalp. She tried to move her arms to remove the blindfold but discovered that they were bound at either side of her, apparently to a chair. She was sat up? It was only now she realised that she was, indeed, sat in a chair, a rather uncomfortable one at that. She tugged at the rope around her wrists but it wouldn't budge.

Getting the idea that she would be there a while, she concentrated on remembering how she got there. Her memory was vague. She remembered her argument with Ino and then talking to Naruto. She also remembered her walk to the far side of the gardens, where she sat on the bench. Then it all began to fall into little shards of information, patches between the blackness of lost memories. _'A hand... I remember a hand coming from behind. It pressed a cloth over my nose and mouth. That's when I started going faint. It must of had that chloroform stuff on it. Then... I don't know...' _She thought, wondering how much she had forgotten. '_I saw him... I know I saw him...'_ The pounding in her head was only getting worse but she needed to remember.

Concentrating hard she pulled up the memories of an arm locking round her neck before the hand pressed over her face. She also remembered that she had her bag with her and that it was still over her shoulder when she was attacked, although she figured it wasn't with her now. The little man in her head was going crazy with the road drill, boring into her skull harder when she tried to remember, but just as she thought her head was going to crack in two the little man stopped, as did the pounding and thumping. The fog had lifted and she found her mind suddenly and surprisingly clear, with her all her memories from before she blacked back in place - along with a hazy picture of her abductor.

"Sasuke?" she whispered.

* * *

Ino glanced around the tutorial class, a short 10 minute session last on a Friday, ignoring the two girls that was trying to talk to her from either side. It was easy enough to pretend she liked them but really her two clones drove her insane. They hadn't been so bad until they suddenly decided that they had to be just like her, then they got annoying. She could only hope that she wasn't even half as bad at they were. Her eyes shot back to the door as another person entered only to be disappointed when the obese boy from the cafeteria walked in, still munching a bag of bacon crisps. The blonde sighed, she hadn't realised quite how angry the pinkette had been when she'd marched off. Sakura rarely skipped classes, she'd even forced herself in whilst looking like a train wreck after her parents accident. The fact that she wasn't in class worried Ino.

"Who're you looking for, Ino?" asked Hitomi from her right, sliding a nail file across her left index nail. How ridiculous, and they claimed to be copying her! She couldn't remember having _ever_ filed her nails in class.

"Sakura." She replied, not particularly caring what either of the girls thought about it.

"Why you looking for that freak?" enquired the other clone, Yukina one heavily plucked eyebrow raised high. Ino ignored her, turning her gaze to the red head sat at the other side of the classroom, watching the door just as she was. It seemed like he didn't know where she was either. Once again the door opened and she watched Gaara frown as the Uchiha entered the class, ignoring all the girls that swooned at him as he passed their table and walked to his own, throwing his bag on the empty seat next to him as a way of informing everyone that they weren't welcome to sit there.

She looked at the clock and noted that there was only a few minutes until the bell rang for the start of class. Still, there was a chance that the pinkette would arrive with Hinata, since she wasn't in the class yet either. She slumped back in her chair and twirled a piece of hair round her finger, pondering her earlier conversation with the man who had turned out to be Gaara's older brother by 2 years. She had been rather surprised when he'd come out of the gym corridor and stopped her in her tracks with a _most_ eloquent yell of 'Hey, blondie'. At first she'd been a little wary of him, what with the facial tattoos and large grin that never seemed to leave his face, but he'd turned out be a pretty nice guy. They'd walked around for the remainder of the class she had missed and then for the 20 minute break, talking about random things and having a laugh. Then when she had to go to class he walked her there. Ino was fairly sure he wasn't just wanting to be friends, but she didn't really mind since he was a hell of a lot nicer than the boys she went to school with. She kinda wished she'd asked for his number, but she could always ask Gaara – through Sakura of course. _'Thinking of Sakura... she still isn't here...'_

Once again the door opened and the blonde girl breathed a sigh of relief when Hinata walked into the class, until she noticed that Sakura didn't follow her in. It was then she saw the worried look on the dark haired girls face as she scanned the classroom and the mobile phone she was holding tightly in her hand. Surprising the two girls on either side of her, Ino jolted from her seat and hurried to the front of the class taking two steps at a time. Hinata saw her coming and walked up a few steps to meet her, trying to pretend that the whole class wasn't watching the pair like hawks. "Hinata? What's wrong, where's forehead?" Ino asked, not even attempting to act less worried than she was.

"I-I don't know. I h-haven't seen her s-since I left you and s-he isn't answering her ph-phone." Truthfully, Hinata felt like crying she was so worried. Sakura _always_ answered her phone if she had it with her and she _always_ had it with her at school. Hinata knew that because she was the one who made sure it was in the pinkettes bag each morning. "I t-thought she might st-still be with you."

"No, we had an argument after you left. She stormed off and I haven't seen her since." replied the blonde, getting more worried by the second. She was about to ask if they should tell Tsunade when people started whispering around the classroom and she looked up the stairs to find a stone faced red head standing on the step right behind her. She jumped a little and moved down a few steps so she was standing next to the other girl. "I take it you haven't seen her either?" she asked.

"No." Gaara replied, flicking his eyes from Ino to Hinata and back again. He was acting like his normal self but inside he was as close to panicking as he had ever been. A little while ago he was suddenly unable to find Sakura with his sand. At first he hadn't been too worried after the demon had told him that if she didn't want to be found he wouldn't be able to find her. That had seemed reasonable enough since she had probably wanted to be alone after her argument with Ino. But then Shukaku had become restless. She had been missing to him for far too long and that was when Shukaku mentioned that he wouldn't be able to find her if she was unconscious or in an area where there was no sand. Now, sand can be found almost anywhere. The smallest grains can work themselves into the tiniest of places, so for no sand to be near her would be extremely odd. That left one option and neither of them liked it. "Something is wrong." Ino nodded and without saying a word walked down to the front of the classroom, ignoring the teacher that had just walked in and the bell that rung loudly on the wall.

"Has anyone seen Sakura in the last hour and half?" she shouted, catching the classes attention and surprising the teacher as well as Hinata and Gaara, although he didn't show it so much. Ino also noticed that the raven haired boy who had been staring out of the window had turned to look at her before turning back to the window as though what she had said was of no importance to him at all, except after what she had found out that morning she deemed Sasuke to be acting suspicious. She was all set to walk over and strangle the Uchiha when someone started taking.

"She stormed down the main corridor about an hour ago," A brunette boy said, lazing in his seat which was tipped back onto the table behind him. His eyes were closed and if he hadn't have spoken Ino would have thought he was asleep.

"Was she with anyone, talk to anyone?" She asked, walking closer to his desk which was on the front row - closer to the door, less energy spent walking.

"She talked with Naruto" He yawned apparently bored with the conversation.

"What about?" she persisted.

"I don't know. It was too troublesome to get involved." He sighed before opening his eyes and swinging his chair back onto four legs. "Why?"

"We can't find her." she answered, walking back over to Hinata and Gaara. She looked over at the teacher who had come in and realised that it was Kakashi, who was sat on the teachers chair – feet on the desk – reading what was _not_ a porn book. She looked back to Sasuke who was still looking out of the window and decided she wanted to talk. Gaara apparently agreed since he followed her across the classroom, Hinata wringed her hands before joining them.

* * *

She didn't realise she had fallen asleep until what sounded like a large door being opened woke her up. Her first reaction was to try and move, but that failed due to her bindings and the fact she had discovered earlier of the chair being nailed or glued to the floor. This was the first time someone had come into wherever she was and she doubted it would be a pleasant experience. Keeping her mouth shut and her ears open, she listened as the door was shut again followed by the soft footsteps and someone walking around her in a circle. Then a sigh. "He knows I'm no good at this, but he still made me watch you, yeah." The footsteps came closer until they were right next to her. "I'm gonna untie you but you can't get up, or take the blindfold off. The doors locked tight and I've got a gun so don't try anything, wouldn't want to hurt you, yeah. Nod if you agree."

Despite her situation she couldn't help but wonder if he knew how stupid he sounded adding 'yeah' to the end of nearly every sentence. She nodded slightly to show she agreed and felt a tug on the rope round her left arm before it came loose allowing her to pull her arm free, her left arm followed. Keeping to the agreement she didn't reach for the blindfold as her hands itched to do, instead she rubbed where the ropes had begun digging into her skin, glad to be free of them. "Where am I?" she asked.

"In a room. I can't tell you any more than that." Feet shuffled away a little. "You can take the blindfold off once I'm gone, I just dunno if he wants you to see us or not, yeah. Can't risk getting him mad." She was already sick of hearing the word 'yeah' but figured that she should find out what she could about what was going on before he left.

"Who's 'he'?"

"He? Oh, the damn Uchiha. Thinks he owns the world, yeah." The man replied, followed by a few more foot shuffling.

"Then why are you helping him?" She asked, holding down her anger. Damn bloody Sasuke, why didn't she listen when they said not to trust him. Look where being nice little forgiving Sakura had got her. If she was allowed to move she'd have kicked herself.

"Orders."

"Orders?" Why would anyone be ordered to help abduct her?

"Yeah, shouldn't have said that. This is why I'm no good at this. Talk too much, yeah." He sounded a little worried, probably because he'd told her something. Then again, why be worried, it wasn't like she could tell anyone. Still, if we was talkative and might slip some more then decided she might as well see what else he'd say if she got a conversation going. _'Act normal'_ She thought before opening her mouth to talk.

"Oh, me too. I always get told off at school for talking in class. I'm usually told off more in art, but I like to talk when I'm painting or making models, it helps me concentrate even if I'm no good at it anyway." Silence. She couldn't tell if it was a good silence, a bad silence or a 'I'm going to kill you now' silence, but she strongly hoped it wasn't the last.

"You like art?" The man asked, sounding a little unsure, he even missed 'yeah' of the end of the sentence.

"Sometimes." She replied "It depends what we're doing. If we're just writing about different types of art then it's boring, but if we're actually doing our own I like it. Why, do you like art?"

"Yeah! Art's amazing! My favourite two things are art and explosives, they work so well together, yeah!" If Sakura hadn't been wearing her blindfold he would have seen her raise an eyebrow. Art and explosives? How did they go together well? Rather than ponder and let the talking cease she asked instead. "I encase my explosives in clay figurines which I make and the end result is spectacular, yeah! If you weren't a hostage I'd show you." He replied, sounding more excited by the second. Maybe this was a chance to try and get out.

"You can't show me now? You have a gun, I'm not exactly gonna run away." She made her voice sound as innocent as she could, although she couldn't possibly be thinking of the very thing she said she wouldn't do. She waited a few seconds and he didn't reply, but she could hear his feet shuffling towards where she remember the door being.

"I would, but we gotta keep you away from any sand, yeah." His feet stopped "There's a camera in this room to watch you. You're out of view in the bathroom but if you stay in there too long I'll be in to check on you, blind fold or not, yeah. I better go." What sounded like a keypad having buttons pressed was followed by the same unlocking sound she had heard before. The door opened and then closed. He was gone.

She ripped the blindfold from her face and immediately closed her eyes as the bright, artificial light invaded them. She wasn't sure why but she was expecting it to be dark, dungeon like. She watched way too many horror films. Slowly opening her eyes and allowing them to adjust, she found that the room she was in wasn't dungeon like at all. Well, not really. It was basic. The chair she was sat on was near to the wall directly across from the door which was closer to the right side of the room. A few feet in front of it was a metal table that looked like it could be moved. In the corner where the back wall and left wall joined was a single metal bed and a metal bedside table. Between the bottom of the bed and the door wall was another door which she presumed led to the bathroom, which she suddenly realised she was in dire need of.

Pushing herself out of the chair, which turned out to be metal like the other furniture, she stretched her legs and arms before walking across the room to the door, which she opened to find the bathroom as she had suspected. It was small, and basic like the other room. Also like the other room, everything was metal. She figured it must have something to do with what the man had said about sand. _'I never thought Sasuke would think to ensure against Gaara sand abilities'_ She thought, closing the door and walking to the toilet.

Once she had finished washing her hands she emerged from the bathroom to find a plate of food on the table. She hadn't heard anyone come in, but they must have done because the food wasn't there when she went into the bathroom. She walked over to investigate and found that it was a plate of chips, with a origami swan sat on top of it which she realised was a note. Raising an eyebrow and figuring that it was the work of the same man who had been in the room with her, she picked it up and folded it out.

_-Sorry, didn't know what food you like, but everyone likes chips, yeah.-_

She couldn't help but smile a little at the silliness of it. After all, since when did people apologise to their hostages for not knowing what they like to eat?

* * *

Gaara barely managed to stop himself crushing the raven with his sand as he watched him walk off after claiming to have not seen the pinkette since he left the gym. Ino looked as mad as he felt while the shy Hyuga looked even more worried than she had before. Inside his head Shukaku was pacing wildly, growing more and more agitated as time went on. Had it been over anything or anyone else Gaara would of mocked him for how he was acting, but if it wasn't for his self control the red head would have been doing exactly the same thing.

"So, what do we do?" Asked Ino, still glaring in the direction Sasuke had headed down the corridor.

"S-Shikamaru said she sp-spoke to Naruto, maybe h-he knows something." Hinata offered, blushing slightly when she said her crushes name, remembering the night before when she had fainted.

"It's worth a try. Wait isn't that him? Naruto!" Ino began marching up the corridor, with Hinata following, wringing her hands and watching her feet rather than where she was going. Gaara looked to where they were heading and saw a blond boy looking at Ino with a raised eyebrow which changed to a smile when he saw Hinata practically hiding behind her.

_**'Kyubi...'** _

_'What?'_ Asked Gaara, wondering what his demon was on about now.

_**'The Kyubi, another sealed demon is inside that blonde boy over there. Naruto I think the girl called him. How very interesting.'**_

_'Indeed.'_ Gaara watched the blonde male as Ino asked him questions about his conversation with Sakura. After a few minutes he turned back to his friends after saying something to Hinata and the two girls walked back to the red head. Hinata was blushing rather furiously and Gaara had to wonder if she was going to faint as he had heard she was prone to doing.

"Nothing. I don't know what you're going to do now, but I'm going to start asking round the people I know who don't have lessons on Fridays, see if any of them have seen her." She said, looking at Gaara with worried blue eyes. "Hinata, are you coming with me?" The Hyuga looked surprised but nodded, still blushing from her encounter with Naruto. "Gaara, do you have a phone or anything, so I can call you if we find anything out?"

"Hn." He held out his hand and the blonde girl handed over her mobile which he quickly entered a number into and saved before handing it back to her, trying to hide a smirk as he did so.

"Kankuro?" Ino asked, confused. She wasn't confused for long as the man in question turned up not seconds later, his grin less enthusiastic due to the situation but still there. She was kind of surprised. She hadn't seen Gaara call anyone, in fact it didn't look like he even had a phone, so how did the tattooed man know to come or where they were? She didn't get chance to ask questions because Gaara turned and began walking away and Kankuro followed after throwing a wink at Ino making her blush a little. However, she decided that it was not the right time to be acting all giddy over a guy and the fact that she now had his number on her mobile, so after watching the two males disappear among the other students she turned to Hinata and they walked in to opposite direction in search of people to question.

* * *

**Can anyone guess who the new un-named guy is? lol  
**To anyone who's watched/read a lot of Naruto it should be fairly obvious :)

**Hope it was ok. :)**

Next update will be soon xxxxxxx


	14. Ceiling Tiles

**So then. I finally gave up on everything i've ever said about them and made a _plan._ Uck. I hate them, really i do, since i never, ever stick to what i write but so far i'm not doing bad... it got me this chapter after all.**

**The last chapter was posted just before Christmas so i've managed to avoid taking my usual 3 months to get a chapter out. I'm so proud. -sigh-**

**I hope it's ok. **

**Much Love- Kitty.x.**

* * *

**Chapter 14: Ceiling Tiles**

The third and last potted plant that lived in Gaara's living room fell to the floor beside the wall it had been hurled at, joining it's two brothers and several other things that found themselves at the mercy of the red head's sand. He was sat on the edge of his sofa, with his elbows resting on his knees, just staring into space. The focus of his sea foam eyes and the slowly swirling sand around him being the only sign that he wasn't lost entirely in thought. His siblings, Temari and Kankuro, had never witnessed their brother in such a state before but were wise enough to be standing out of the immediate range of the rolling sands that were randomly striking out at nearby objects.

"Gaara...?" The blonde tried, earning no response from her brother other than a sight momentary increase in the sands speed. She'd never known Gaara to worry about anything before and had no idea how to talk to him without prompting the sand to attack her. To both her and Kankuro it was obvious that he was trying to keep a lid on what he let out, but he was close to breaking. It had been almost three hours since they had left the school and he was still unable to locate Sakura. Shukaku was raging with the need to find and protect 'his mate', and most of Gaara's concentration was used on keeping the sands as contained as he was.

Ino had phoned once about two hours before saying that other than a few people seeing her in the corridor with Naruto, no one knew anything. She'd even managed to call in a favour and gained access to the schools CCTV room but the last camera footage of the pinkette was of her walking along the path from the main school door. She went into a camera black spot and never made it into the viewing field of the next camera along. Honestly, it wasn't much but it was a start. At least they had some idea of where she could have been when she disappeared.

"She could be _dead_." The red head said, practically spitting out the last word in frustration.

"We don't know that. There's a few things that could be stopping you from sensing her." Temari replied, flinching as a small ornament of a pyramid met it's end against the same wall as the other objects.

"I don't trust that bloody Sasuke kid." Muttered the brunette, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning. He glanced at his sister who's expression said she agreed with him. "Are we gonna call in the authorities?"

"No. I want the chance to hurt this bastard before the police show up."

* * *

Sakura frowned and dropped her mobile back on the bed, annoyed with the lack of blue bars on the left hand side of the screen. No signal. About 5 minutes after she'd finished with the plate of chips the door had been unlocked and opened a crack and the man from before had shouted through for her to put the blindfold back on. She'd agreed, figuring that if she didn't he'd probably march in anyway and wave the gun at her. After he'd left she'd been surprised to find her school bag on the bed with everything still in it, including her mobile. She'd wondered why at first – now she knew. Wherever she was there was no mobile signal, but she couldn't think of anywhere near Konoha where there wouldn't be a signal.

Sighing, she turned her mobile off so she could save the battery. If she ever got to the point where she felt life drowning herself in the bathroom sink to relieve her boredom, she could play on her mobile games instead – or at least until the battery died. She shoved everything back in her school bag, and dropped it down the side of the bed before laying down and staring at the ceiling. Fun.

After a few minutes a staring, she realised that the 2ft by 2ft square metal ceiling slabs set between the metal support beams reminded her of somewhere. She frowned as she tried to recall where she'd seen them, or something similar, before. Her thoughts were interrupted when the door unlocked again and she automatically shifted off the bed to put the blindfold on but stopped when the door swung open straight away revealing a tallish male with long blonde hair styled in what could possibly be the weirdest way she had ever seen – half off it tied up, half of it down and most of it in front of one side of his face. Odd. She watched him as his closed the door behind him before turning to her and smiling broadly. "Thought you could use some entertainment, yeah?" He said, waving a book in his hand.

"Oh," she said, realising that it was the same person who had come into the room before. She wondered if he was the only one watching her. "So the guy who threatened to shoot me and then gave me chips, now brings entertainment?" She smiled a little, unable to help herself when the blonde man was still beaming at her, for no reason that she could think of.

"Yeah, but I didn't threaten to shoot you... just told you I had a gun." He walked over to the table and put the book down on it before picking up the blindfold that was on the back of the chair and turning to face the pinkette. "Don't need this any more, boss man says you can see us. I'm Deidara, yeah?"

"Right. Deidara, odd name."

"Seriously? That's coming from the girl named after a tree, yeah?"

Sakura pouted a little. "I'm named after the trees _blossom_, and there's nothing wrong with my name." She folded her arms and continued to pout. It took her a second to realise she was doing it – automatic reaction she figured – but he didn't seem bothered. In fact, he seemed quite happy to play along.

"Same thing, and I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. It matches your hair." He grinned, apparently thinking himself clever for seeing the relationship between her name and hair colour. Sakura rolled her eyes and uncrossed her arms, sat down on the edge of the bed and looked up at the blonde. She opened her mouth to ask a question before stopping, closing her mouth and then opening it again a few seconds later.

"Are you allowed to tell me why I'm here?" she asked, already pretty sure that he would say no but deciding she might as well ask.

"Nope. Boss man said we can't tell you where you are or why you're here, yeah."

"So... you can tell me what you're going to do with me?" she asked, holding back a giggle when his smile collapsed into a rather confused frown. She hated to admit it, but he was actually kinda cute judging by the side of his face she could see. She wondered why he let his hair hang down like he did, but decided against asking – to each their own. After a few seconds of what seemed to be confused silence from the blonde he spoke.

"He... didn't say anything about that..." he trailed off frowning a little again.

"But you're going to keep quiet just in case?" she finished for him.

"Yeah. I better go anyway, yeah." He said, already heading towards the door. The pinkette wasn't sure if it because of what she'd asked of if he generally did need to go, but she didn't get chance to ask. She managed to fit in a quick 'thanks for the book' before the door clicked shut and the lock moved back into place.

She sighed a little before standing up and walking over to the table where she picked up the book he'd left. 'Far From The Madding Crowd' was printed on the front and she could practically feel the boredom emanating from it, but all in all it was something she could pass the time with... or put herself to sleep with, either worked for her. She sat back on the bed with her back against the wall, a pillow acting as padding and began to read.

* * *

"What!? You can't be serious... she's been abducted, how can we _not_ involve them?.. No... No... But what if......." She sighed "You promise?... I swear to Kami if she get hurt I'll... Fine, just get her back... right... ok...Bye... bye." Ino hung up the phone and turned back to Hinata who was pressing her two index fingers together in a nervous habit of hers. "Kankuro said not to involve the police. Don't ask me why, he said they'd deal with it." Hinata gaped at the blonde, not quite believing that they weren't going to involve the authorities even though her best friend was missing and possibly dead – not that she wanted to think about that.

"He's right." said a voice from behind them "The police are useless, it's too troublesome for them to do anything until a body shows up." Shikamaru stepped up beside the girls, arms crossed behind his head in a lazy fashion, eyes closed.

"Shika? What are you doing here?" Ino asked. School had finished a while ago and most students wouldn't been seen dead in the actual school building unless they _really_ had to be there.

"Following you two. Sakura's missing?"

"Yes, she'd missing. Abducted we think, since she hasn't shown up anywhere and her phones off, which according to Hinata isn't normal since she's the one who turns it on and puts in Sakura's bag for her." Shikamaru frowned a little.

"Give me the full story."

* * *

The tattooed brunette walked back into the main room of Gaara's apartment where the red head and Temari waited for him. "Ino agreed... just, but be prepared for her wrath if we don't get Sakura back." he grinned a little imagining a Ino V Gaara fight. No doubt Gaara would win easily... but Ino would defiantly look good in some little ninja fighter outfit – in his opinion anyway.

"Good" said Temari, arms crossed and looking serious "That should make things easier for you two. Unfortunately I have to go before dad throws a fit over having nothing to eat. Kankuro, stay here and help Gaara, I can deal with dad. Keep me updated ok." She grabbed her jacket from the back of the sofa, slipped it on and walked towards the front door pulling her car keys from her pocket but looked back to her brothers when Gaara shouted her.

"Don't put up with any shit from him." She smiled at her youngest brother.

"I never do." With that she left the apartment leaving the two males alone.

The door clicked shut behind her, followed swiftly by the muffled beginnings of Rock Lee's 'Youth' speech which he would no doubt annoy Temari with, right until she slams the car door shut and speeds away before be can get in the car with her. Rock Lee was closely followed with the sound of the large fridge being raided by Kankuro since Temari had taken it upon herself to force him on a diet and -as usual- he was just_ dying _of hunger. Gaara's lip twitched upward at his brother before returning to his frown and glaring a the sofa – one of the few things still in one piece in his living room.

"She'll be all right, Gaara ." He raised his sea foam eyes back to his older brother who now had his arms full with an large assortment of junk food. "We'll get her back." Kankuro stated before devouring something that may or may not have been edible... not that it really mattered to the brunette since he could eat anything if he was hungry – it had been proven. Gaara nodded silently before looking out the large window along the side of his living room. He knew his brother was right. They would get her back and when they did the people who had taken her from him would suffer. A lot.

* * *

The discarded book landed on the floor beside the metal bed with a heavy thud. A heavy, dull thud. Dull like the book that made it. The pinkette groaned and rubbed her eyes. In all her years of being able to read, she couldn't recall ever reading something quite so boring. The writer was obviously a huge fan of detail since he'd spent the first way-too-many paragraphs simply telling the reader how one man looked. If he could have gotten away with describing every last pore on the man's face, he probably would have. Sakura hadn't even got a quarter way into the book before her will to live over took her need to pass time. She was fairly sure that repeatedly banging her head against the wall would be more fun that the rest of the book. If Deidara ever came into the room without his gun... she was going to hit him for his stupidity in book choice.

She gave up.

She had just started contemplating whether or not doing her school homework would keep her mind off the blatant lack of entertainment when the lock opened on the door and a blonde head poke round the side off it. "Wondering if you were hungry, yeah?"

"Uh... what have you got?" she asked, hoping that she wasn't going to live on chips for however long she'd be staying there.

"Ramen?"

"Sure, why not." He ducked back out and the closed and locked leaving her to her own devices for however long she'd have to wait. She laid back on her bed and once again stared at the ceiling. She still couldn't remember whatever it was that was nagging at her about it. Square tiles, metal support beams... what was to work out. She laid wondering for a little longer before the door opened once again and Deidara walked in with a steaming bowl of ramen... to which her stomach gurgled loudly in anticipation of the coming meal. The blonde grinned at the pinkettes blush. "Apparently I'm hungrier than I thought."

"Sorry, I didn't realise how long it had been, yeah."

"No worries. Just make sure I don't starve to death or you'll have my ghost on your ass." She ginned at him and walked over to the table where he set the ramen bowl down along with two chopsticks. "Speaking of which – I'm going to die of boredom. Have you even read that book you gave me?" she twirled her chopsticks in the noodles.

"No... I guess it's really bad." he walked over to it and picked it up before flipping through the pages and stopping somewhere randomly. A minute or so later he closed it. "Worse than bad, yeah?"

"I suppose it depends on who's reading it. Just not my type of book... not yours either apparently."

"I'll see if I can find something else." Sakura nodded and began eating, glancing up as the blonde left the room taking the book of boredom with him. The ramen was good. Really good actually. She'd finished it in no time and found herself staring longingly at the bottom of the bowl as if waiting for it to magically refill. It didn't.

Deciding that she probably wouldn't be able to find anything to do except for homework or play on her mobile phone games, which she didn't want to resort to just yet, she got up from the chair walked over to the bed and got under the covers, pulling them over her head to block out the bright light in the room from the strip light. Utterly bored and fed up with being held prisoner already, she drifted into her dreams.

* * *

"And that brings us to where we are now." Ino finished, having just recited everything that had happened involving Sakura over the last two days, with Hinata adding bits in which the blonde either forgot or didn't know. Of course, there was gaps where neither of the girls had know where the pinkette was but they couldn't really help that.

"Troublesome" The brunette muttered.

"Is that it!? Troublesome? Sakura could be laying in a ditch somewhere and you think its fucking _troublesome_!" Ino seethed, glaring at Shikamaru with her hand twitching slightly as though desperate to make contact with somewhere on him that would hurt. Anywhere. Shikamaru looked thoughtful for a minute, brow furrowed slightly, before he started talking.

"Since Sakura's basically disappeared of the face of the planet from within school grounds I can only assume that the person who took her knew what they were doing and has taken her for a reason. Schools are pretty secure so whoever has Sakura was after _her_, which means she is probably still alive." the two girls were relieved, even if it was only a 'probably' it was better than nothing. Plus, what he'd said made sense. Why would someone go to all the trouble of avoiding the school security if they could just grab someone randomly? But that left the question as _to why_ someone would want Sakura.

"I know Sakura, she wouldn't have just _let_ someone take her." Ino pointed out.

"They probably knocked her out. It would make their job easier and eliminate the chances of her running or shouting for help."

"There are hundreds of houses in Konoha, they could have taken her anywhere!" Ino wondered if not involving the police really was a bad idea, at least they could search property.

"They wouldn't have taken her anywhere residential as someone carrying an unconscious teenage girl into a house is bound to look suspicious, so they'll be further away. Konoha is a fairly tight-knit community, people watch what goes on around them and strangers stand out like a lighthouse in the dark. Keeping her around here would be too risky." He nodded slightly as if agreeing with himself.

"You t-think they've left Konoha?" asked the dark haired girl, now all the more worried for her friend. She felt Ino grab her hand and squeeze it comfortingly. It was weird – she'd have never expected herself and the blonde to have a proper conversation, never mind stand in the school corridor holding hands and joined in their worry for Sakura.

"Probably not." Shikamaru sighed. The two girls looked confused so he continued "They're just not _in_ Konoha. Probably on the outskirts of Konoha land, away from people."

"But there's nothing on the outskirts." said Ino "There's Konoha clustered in the middle and then just land. Probably 6-7 miles of free land all the way around!"

"There's nothing to the North, just inhabitable mountains followed by the sea. No one with any amount of sense or knowledge would go that way, but Southward, towards where the war was fought, there's a good number of old secret army bunkers. My guess is that they are in one of those somewhere."

"If they're so secret" Ino began "How do you know about them?"

"Troublesome. My uncle Asuma is head of tactics and war co-ordination, we got talking about it while ago over a game of Shogi. There are 37 bunkers but some of them have collapsed and others are sealed. I could find out which ones are still accessible though and we can work from there."

"Ok, but what do we do if we find out where they are? We're just _kids_. What can a bunch of teenagers do against a group of professional criminals who probably have _guns _and won't think twice about shooting us?! Why the hell did I agree to keep the police out of this?" She shoved her hand in her pocket and pulled out her mobile, intent of calling Kankuro and demanding they involved the police, but a hand caught her arm and she looked back up to find Shikamaru was the one holding her.

"Trust me when I say the police will be useless. We'll work something out, ok?" The blondes eyes filled with tears and before she knew what she was doing she'd thrown herself forward to hug Shikamaru, crying loudly and sobbing something along the lines of 'I'm so worried about her'. Shikamaru blinked, blinked again and then looked at the dark haired girl hoping for help. All he got as a surprised look and a shrug followed by Hinata's usual index fingers habit. Sighing he slowly wrapped his arms around the sobbing girl. "I know Ino, I know." He said, all the while thinking how trouble women and their emotions are.

* * *

**If anyone is a fan of 'Far From The Madding Crowd' i apologise. It was one of the books i was made to read for my GCSE's and really... i thought boredom would kill me. The only redeaming factor was the sheep going over the side of the cliff (hilarious when you watch the film version). I have nothing against the author and i'm sure many people like the book.**

Hope you liked it. Please Review. I like reviews. They make make me feel all bubbly  
... and then my boyfriend looks at me weird because i'm grinning at the laptop like an idiot. -sigh-


	15. In Hiding

**A bit of moving on, a bit of filling space and a bit of Naruto and Hinata. Bless them. I've been ignoring them somewhat. **

**This took a bit longer than i expected since i got most of it done then realised i'd cocked up somewhere and had to redo a lot of it since it didn't fit right with earlier chapters  
-sigh-**

**Anyhoo, chapter 15 ready to goooooo! ^^**

**Much Love- Kitty.x.**

* * *

The dark haired girl gently pushed her front door shut and dropped her bag to the floor next to it, followed by her sneakers. Normally she was a tidy person, and would have taken everything to the bedroom and put it in it's place, but right now she wasn't in the mood for that. A part of her than she was forcefully ignoring wanted her to curl up on the sofa and cry until she fell asleep, or sit and stare into space for hours on end. It's what she normally did. After all, she was the shy, emotional Hyuga girl that no one really expected anything of, the one that people constantly looked through and ignored in light of her cousin. Right now, however, she didn't care what people, what _her family_ thought of her. Right now she cared about her friend – her best friend – and the fact that she was missing. _'I am not weak'_ she thought _'I am not weak. I will help find Sakura. I will save her with everyone else. I will...'_ Her thoughts came to a halt with a knock at the door. Catching the time on the clock – 21:07, she wondered who would be calling round.

She walked over to the front door and opened it slowly, peering out at the person waiting at the other side. "Na-Naruto?" she asked, surprised. He grinned in his usually goofy way and she opened the door all the way, not noticing that her usual blush didn't appear in the presence of the blonde.

"Hey, Hinata. Can we talk?" he smiled at her when she nodded and moved out of the door so her could enter. He walked round towards the living area and she shut the door before following after him, wondering what he was doing at her dorm so late in the day. "I came round twice earlier, but you wasn't here." He said, answering her question without realising it. "About last night.... I didn't mean to scare you or anything, Hinata. I just wanted to apologise and ask if you wanted to... go out again sometime?" He smiled hopefully at her and suddenly her blush appeared, burning a rather visible red that made the blonde chuckle slightly.

"I..Y-you really want to?" Index fingers fiddling nervously.

"Of course! I would have asked you sooner, but after you fainted I kinda thought you didn't like me that way, but then Sakura said it wasn't because... of... that... Hinata, are you ok?" he asked. The blush had drained from her face again and she was positively white. She'd momentarily forgotten Sakura in her surprise.

"Sakura... she's missing." She said, looking at Naruto properly for what could be the first time ever. "Disappeared just after you saw her today. That's why we'd asked if you knew where she went." Naruto looked at the girl in concern. She seemed slightly off suddenly. She wasn't blushing, she wasn't stuttering and she wasn't having any difficulty in looking him in the eye, but she didn't look well either. Slowly her gaze dropped to the floor and her shoulders dropped.

"Hinata..." He reached out and caught her arm gently just under her elbow, pulling her to him a little. "Have you called the police?"

"No. Gaara and Shikamaru said they wouldn't be any help." He nodded in agreement before his eyes seemed to glaze over slightly, but only for a second before he wrapped his arms around her waist in a warm hug, his fingers curling in the tips of her long hair. She tensed for a second before grasping the front of his orange jacket and resting her head on his shoulder. "We have to find her, Naruto."

"We will. Isn't Gaara that new kid?" She nodded against his shoulder, feeling her blush slowly returning due to being so close to her crush.

"He and Saku are together. He's really worried about her, we thought he was going to kill Sasuke earlier on."

"Why Sasuke?" He released the hug and looked down at the Hyuga girl, "What's he done?" It was known that Naruto and Sasuke had once been friends, until the Uchiha decided he was above the blonde and ditched him. He'd never really stopped thinking of the raven as friend though. Saying something bad about Sasuke to Naruto usually wasn't a good move.

"Well.. H-he tried to hurt Sakura y-yesterday." she stepped back a little from the blonde. "Gaara s-stopped him... raping Saku. We think h-he might have t-taken her." Her stutter was back full force, but she had reason since Naruto looked anything but impressed.

"What? Sasuke wouldn't do that! They're probably lying ab..." His short-lived rant stopped when Hinata glared at him, odd white eyes burning anger. He was wise enough to realise that an angry Hinata probably wasn't a good thing and shuffled backwards slightly. He was given the idea of Hinata having a split personality but ignored it. "Sorry. I... shouldn't have said that."

"No, you shouldn't" whispered Hinata.

"I'm sorry, Hinata. I'll try and help you find her, ok." She nodded. Feeling her anger dissipate he stepped closer to her again before brushing her fringe aside and pressing a quick, soft kiss to her forehead. "Get some sleep." He left then, letting himself out and leaving an upset, surprised and angry Hinata wondering what happened before taking herself to bed for a restless nights sleep.

* * *

Sakura shot awake after having possibly the most convenient dream of her entire life. One that happened the be about the very ceiling tiles that had been bothering her ever since she had noticed them. Sitting up on her elbows she suppressed at grin at remembering where they reminded her of. The school had a large ground floor building known as the student social area. It was a place that was opened after school hours where students could go to sit and talk on the sofa's, use the vending machines or call people on the payphones. The ceiling in the social area was very similar to the room she was in. That wasn't the important part. The important part was that some of the school idiots, in a bid to find more ways to annoy people, had discovered that the tiles weren't actually the ceiling, which started a few feet above it. They had found this out after an electrician had revealed that one tile was always left unsecured so someone could get up to the wires, pipes and ventilation shafts hidden above the suspended ceiling.

Oh how she suddenly loved the school idiots who had found it funny to hide her bag in the gap and laugh as she had to climb up to get it. Now, as far as she was aware the loose tile was nearly always closest to the most wires which were usually lights. Hopefully, it wasn't near the main room light. Getting out of bed and trying to act as normal as possible she made her way into the bathroom and shut the door. Looking up at the position of the light she made her way over to the toilet and put the lid down before standing on it and them up on to the back of it, wobbling slightly before steadying herself. Praying that she wouldn't fall she pushed on the two tiles on either side of the light and swore. Stuck. Both of them.

Happy mood evaporated she made her way back to the floor and sighed. There was no way she could check the tiles around the light the main room because the camera was there, ready to alert Deidara or whoever else was watching.

Wait... Camera.

CCTV cameras need electricity and have to connect to a monitor somewhere. Maybe... She looked up at the corner above the sink which was behind where the camera was in the other room. Maybe... Once again using the toilet seat as a rather large step she climbed her way onto the edge of the sink. Making sure she wouldn't fall she pushed a hand against the corner tile. Nothing. Annoyed she gave it a hard shove and grinned when it shifted a little upwards. Taking her chances with gravity and hoping her balance wouldn't fail her she used both hands to push the tile all the way out of the support beam before grabbing the metal sides and somehow hoisting herself up into the hidden space.

The air in the concealed area smelled dusty and a little damp, making her nose twitch in irritation. She moved the tile back into it's place and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. To her surprise it wasn't pitch black, just very very dark. She could make out the outline of the metal beams running across the room, the pipes and where the real ceiling was - which would probably help her to avoid trying to stand up and knocking herself out in the process. The small amount of light was coming in through the wire holes above the strip lights and from some tiny lights dotted around on what seemed to be generators.

She'd noticed, once she could see, that the wall separating the main room and bathroom was only a partition wall and that it didn't reach up to the real ceiling. Unfortunately the wall which the entry door was on was a real wall, meaning she couldn't simply crawl over the support beams until she found the exit to the building. _'Guess I'll have to go with plan B then'_ she thought, fully aware that she hadn't even thought of plan A to begin with, never mind a plan B as well.

* * *

The blonde sat slumped in the chair in front of the TV screen that was linked through to the camera watching the pinkette. He flicked his eyes back up to the close on the wall and the pressure gauge next to it. Sakura had been in the bathroom for just over 15 minutes and no water was being used, so said the water pressure. He frowned a little before sitting forward in his seat. Another minuted passed and nothing had changed so he finally stood up and walked out of the small CCTV room, turning right on the corridor towards where they were holding Sakura.

It only took a few minutes for him to get to the door where he quickly punched the 8 digit number into the pad to unlock the door. He pushed the door open and entered the room, looking around it to see if she had come out of the bathroom. Seeing that the room was still empty he shut the door behind him and walked over to the bathroom door and knocked. "Sakura?" When he received no reply he turned the handle and opened the door, slightly at first and then all the way when he realised that the bathroom was as Sakuraless as the main room. '_Shit'_ he thought, quickly scanning the main room with a puzzled expression before walking over and looking under the bed, where he only found dust and shadow.

He stood back up, worrying his bottom lip. His boss was going to _kill _him if he didn't find her. "Sakura, where are you?" he asked, not really expecting an answer. He walked back into the bathroom, checking behind the frosted glass shower door just in case, but once again found himself without the pinkette hostage. Now worrying his bottom lip and considering the chance she had managed to escape he quickly left the room, shutting the door auto-lock door behind him and headed for the nearest land-line phone.

In the space above the false ceiling Sakura allowed herself to breathe.

* * *

The large clock above the main entrance to the school showed that it was just over an hour before first lessons started but there was already a few students milling around the grounds and getting things out of lockers. One of these students was currently mid phone call and glared at anyone who dared look curious at the topic of the conversation. A locker door slammed forcefully making a younger student further down the corridor jump before quickly leaving the corridor to the person trying not to shout down the phone.

"What the fuck do you mean 'you can't find her'?" he seethed down the phone, trying to keep his voice low. What ever the other person said wasn't good enough as his brow creased further. "I want Sakura found. People don't just vanish!" The person on the other end of the phone tried to defend themselves but was cut off by an angry 'find her' and then the hanging up of the mobile. He ran a hand irritably through his raven hair. Not even 8 in the morning and he was already annoyed, he needed coffee.

Throwing his bag over his shoulder, Sasuke walked down the corridor in the direction of the school cafeteria. Not the best coffee in the world but right now he didn't particularly care. There wasn't many students in the café, most chose to eat breakfast either in their dorms or one of the local establishments, as did he, but he'd already eaten and he didn't fancy re-entering the cold only to wait in a queue for half an hour for a cup of coffee. He shoved some money in the hot drinks machine and pressed the button for black coffee and waited while the machine buzzed and gurgled before releasing the drink into the mug he had placed under it.

He found a seat at the back of the cafeteria and sat down, determined to avoid his fan girls at such an early hour, and took a sip from his mug. He was only halfway through his coffee when his peace was interrupted once again by his mobile ringing. He swore under his breath and glared at his pocket before pulling out his phone to answer, only to realise he had a text message, which he opened.

_-Hey, it's been a while. Meet me for lunch at Starbucks?_

_-Kabuto._

He thought for a second before texting back a 'sure; and shoving his mobile back in his pocket. Starbucks was a little far to trail from school during lunch but he hadn't seen his older friend in a while and the coffee shop was more or less in the middle between Konoha high and the small City University that Kabuto attended. He'd met the uni student by chance a few months ago and had somehow become friends with him since he was pretty interesting to talk to.

Looking at the clock and seeing that he had less than 20 minutes until his lessons started he took his empty mug and placed it on the conveyor belt that led to the kitchen and then headed off, with plenty of time to secure a seat away from any annoying girls.

* * *

Gaara didn't plan to go into school. He didn't plan to go into school until he had Sakura back. Well, not unless he decided to beat Sasuke into telling him where his girlfriend was but he'd half promised his brother he wouldn't jump to any conclusions despite Sasuke being the number one suspect. Over the night he'd become even more restless, he was an insomniac so it didn't disturb his sleep but he couldn't even meditate. He'd long since ran out of things in his home to break, unless he turned on the larger objects such as his sofa. The only thing playing on his mind was that his pinkette better be alive and uninjured.

_**'She's alive.' **_His demon growled within him, sounding more subdued than ever before. It seemed this was as hard on the demon as it was on the redhead his resided within.

_'And how would you know that?' _Gaara bit back. He still couldn't feel Sakura. No matter how hard he tried it was as though she had left the planet.

_**'She is our mate. Although the bonding has yet to be consummated, it would still be rather painful for both of us were she to die.' **_Shukaku explained to the red head, his voice taking on a slightly less rough tone.

_'What do you mean by painful?' _Gaara asked, having not been told anything on the subject of 'mating' before he had come across Sakura.

_**'I have never experienced it, your rose is the first possible mate I have accepted. However, I have been told that the process of removing a demon from it's human vessel is a mere scratch compared with the agony of loosing a mate.'**_

_'Shit. You think it's them again, don't you?' _

_**'Them?' **_Shukaku grinned slightly **_'You have to admit that all this seems rather... planned. She is alive but we can't feel her presence which can only mean they are holding her where there is no sand. They must know about you and are using her to get to you.'_**

_'Why the hell didn't you mention this before?' _He mentally glared at his demon for once again withholding information. '_You think it's the same people?'_

_**'Undoubtedly.'**_

"Fucking bastards!" He growled aloud, causing his older brother to jump slightly before looking up from his rather large bowl of cereal and mumble a rather sleepy 'what?' at his brother.

_**'Indeed. I did tell you to find and kill them last time.'**_

_'Whatever'_

Internal conversation over, Gaara turned to look at his brother who was still awaiting a reply, spoon hovering over the bowl of half eaten cereal ready to dig back in. Temari wouldn't be back until the following day and Kankuro was taking full advantage of that and eating to his hearts content – the cereal being the last part to his 7 course breakfast. It was a good thing that Gaara didn't eat much. "Shukaku thinks it's _them_ again". His older brothers face seemed to flicker from confusion to understanding followed by surprise and finally annoyance, his brown furrowing into a scowl.

"Didn't we just get them off our backs?" He asked, although it sounded more like a statement. "I didn't think they'd chase us across the bloody country border."

"It seems as though they have contacts over here. What's more, they now have Sakura."

"Bait?" Kankuro asked, already knowing that that was the only reason they would have the pinkette who seemed to have caught his brothers attention and tamed his demon. Gaara nodded in agreement.

"Don't expect me to leave them alive this time." Gaara stated coldly before focussing back on controlling his sand that was slowly becoming more agitated once again. He needed to find Sakura.

* * *

Ino practically threw herself at the seat next to Shikamaru in their first lesson, almost knocking a blonde guy over and leaving her clones to wonder where they were supposed to sit, eventually settling on the seats behind her. The brunette boy didn't even lift his head from the table to greet her and only grunted in response when she poked him in the side with on of her rather long and sharp nails. It wasn't until she resorted to actually dragging his head off the table that she managed to get a spoken word from him and even then it was just 'troublesome' as usual.

"Whatever, Shika. Did you speak to your uncle?" She asked, trying to keep her voice down so no on heard what they were talking about, god forbid and other teenagers decided that wanted to be involved in the rescue. The brunette rubbed his eyes sleepily before yawning and nodding at the same time.

"26 of the 37 bunkers are still accessible. 21 of those aren't under surveillance because they're far enough out to not really matter." He tipped his chair back onto two legs ignoring the 'tut' from Ino clone No2 when he jogged her hand as she painted her nails.

"So... Sakura could be in 1 of 21 old army bunkers on the outer edge of Konoha?" Ino asked.

"Basically"

Ino pulled out her phone and quickly tapped off a text message to Kankuro telling him and Gaara what they knew. What she didn't know at the moment was how the were supposed to find her friend or how they were going to get her out. It still seemed like she was the only one who had noticed that they were teenagers, not trained secret agents or assassins or whatever, and she could see it all going wrong and one them being killed. Once the message was sent she turned back to Shikamaru to try and get some more answers but kept quiet when their teacher walked in. He was known for being strict when it came to talking in class and demanded complete silence and right now Ino didn't want to be stuck in detention.

* * *

**-breathes-**

**So... how was it? Please review. I like them lots ^^**

**xxxxxx Love you alllllll!**


	16. The Reason

**Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's _finally_ a NEW CHAPTER!**

**And i have absolutely no excuses as to why this took so long.  
**I'm not even going to blame my horrific writers block, because this chapter_ still_ should have been out a hell of a lot earlier.

I think my motivation finally came back to me after i read a review from someone who said they were giving up on this story due to the lack of updates.  
And i understand. I really do. _I_ get annoyed when people don't update, even though i'm a really poor updater myself. I suck. Badly.

So, my greatest apologies to everyone who is still following this story.  
I will fully understand if you all arrive at my door with torches and pitchforks the next time i don't update for.... what was it... 6/7 months?

**I bow down to you all for your patience, i certainly do not deserve it. **

**I dedicate this chapter to all the people i still have left after the appualing length of time i took to update.**

I love you all.  
PLEASE don't leave me! :(

**And can you please review at the end. I think my writing style somehow changed from the other chapters. Can you let me know?**

**Much love.  
Kitty.x.**

* * *

Sakura was beginning to think she should have come up with a better plan. One that didn't involve either crouching or laying in the space between the suspended ceiling and the real ceiling. She was also thinking that she should have brought her bag with her so she could at least play on her phone or something while she waited to be able to put plan _G_ into action – plans B through F had been too dangerous or had exactly 0.01 chance of happening, such as her suddenly gaining the ability to teleport.

Currently, Sakura was crouched down, in a rather uncomfortable position, on one of the support beams surrounding the ceiling tile above the entrance door. Plan G involved waiting for Deidara to come into the room and hopefully leave the door open. She was hoping that if that happened she could drop down from the ceiling and run like her life depended on it - which it probably did, since she hadn't forgotten that the blonde had a gun. Her fingers were hurting terribly after she'd sacrificed them in the name of unscrewing the bolts securing the ceiling tile above the door, but if it meant she got a chance at getting away she didn't really care.

Sakura wasn't sure how long it had been since she first got into the ceiling, but she was sure it was at least a few hours. Everything had been quiet since Deidara had first run into her room and found that she had disappeared, and she was beginning to wonder if he would re-check the rooms. She shifted slightly on the beam and managed to stretch the legs out a little and rid them of the cramp that was starting to set in. Her back was beginning to ache as well, but there wasn't too much she could do about that.

It wasn't much longer until she heard the faint sound of voices and the security pad beeping before the door swung open and the voice got louder. At first she thought there were two people but when Deidara stopped talking and no one answered but he continued to speak a few seconds later as though they had, she realised he was using some sort of walkie talkie or something. She listened as he stepped into the room and waited to hear the dreaded click and the door locks moving back into place, but after a few seconds when it didn't happen Sakura's heart almost shot though her chest.

Deidara had moved further into the room and was saying something into the walkie talk about being intelligent enough to look under the bed the first time he'd checked the room, which he had been, to which the reply was a loud, deep laugh that even Sakura could hear. Deciding to see if God had taken pity on her, she slowly lifted the ceiling tile and shifted it across slightly so she could see what was happening below, almost giving away her position with a victory squeak when she noticed that the door into the room was indeed open. In fact, it wasn't just ajar like she had expected, but wide open, offering the perfect, unobstructed escape route.

Holding in the urge to just drop down and bolt, she waited as patiently as she could as Deidara once again checked over the room. There wasn't exactly much to check, but the blonde seemed determined to take as long as possible in making sure she hadn't managed to somehow fit into the cracks in the wall. Before long he moved towards the bathroom door but stopped outside of it and said something into the walkie-talkie, whining a few seconds later at whatever the other had said, before opening the bathroom door and entering it, leaving it open behind him.

Sakura could feel her heart beating solidly against her chest as she watched the blonde man step further into the bathroom, looking around as he did so. Quickly but quietly she pushed the tile out of the way, not entirely surprised when she noticed how badly her hands were shaking, and checked once more that Deidara was throughly checking the bathroom. Holding in her nerves she moved her legs over to the edge of the missing tile and braced her arms on either side. Then, with a deep breath and a silent prayer for her luck to continue, she let herself drop down in front of the open door with a low thud that echoed around the room, making her freeze for a moment until she registered movement from the bathroom.

Ignoring the shocks that were shooting up her legs from the impact, she grabbed hold of the door handle and pulled it shut behind her as quickly as she could, hoping that the time it took Deidara to unlock and open it again would give her chance to get far enough away from him- although she could already hear him swearing and running to the door. Adrenaline pumping, her eyes flicked around the corridor she was in before she started running in the only direction available to her, heading towards where she could see the hallways split in two.

She was only halfway there when Deidaras swearing was audible again, along with quick footfalls heading towards her. Not knowing how, she increased her speed and ran flat out through the corridors, not registering where she was going as she turned corners or even that the person chasing her was slowing down, unable to keep up with her panicked speed. Her blood was pumping loudly in her ears, her heart was slamming painfully against her chest and her thought processes had all shut down save for the single insistant need to escape. Her feet pounded against the floor as she fled towards yet another turn in what seemed like a maze of corridors lined with door after door after door that she dare not stop to open.

Speeding around the next corner she suddenly found herself sprawled on the the floor in a daze and with the painful feeling that she had just ran straight into a wall. Her head was spinning and she was unsure as the what had hurt more – the impact with the wall or the following collision with the floor. Her head cleared some and with it came the ability to open her eyes, despite the blur that covered them.

"Corridor seventeen, I got her."

Sakura froze. She blinked rapidly until her eyes cleared and looked up at what was most definitely not the wall she thought it was, although he came pretty close. Even from her position, sprawled out on the floor, she could tell that the man standing in front of her was a least a good foot taller than her. He was broad shouldered and his lack of t-shirt showed off his collection of well worked muscles. In fact, he looked like he just stepped out of the gym. However, all this information was shoved roughly out of the way in light of the fact that the man was _blue. _ Not just his hair, which was a similar colour to Hinata's, but his _skin_ was a pale shade of blue. Now Sakura really _had_ seen it all.

His face was fairly normal, other than being blue, but he had three V shaped slashes underneath each of his eyes, which the pinkette could help but compare to a fishes gills, and his eyes were all white except the black pupil. She would have continued staring at the odd looking man but once he'd clipped the walkie talkie onto the side of his sweat pants he grabbed her by the right arm and hauled her to her feet roughly before proceeding to drag her back down the corridor she had ran up.

It took her a few seconds to get her head straight after being yanked up from the ground, but once she did and she realised she was being pulled back in the direction she had come from she began to struggle, pulling sharply on her arm in a bid to wrench it from his grip. After the fifth or sixth tug, she realised that other than making her arm hurt, all her efforts were going to waste, so instead of trying to pull her arm free she moved onto another tactic.... and kicked him in the shin. Hard.

The blue man swore and pulled her forward before releasing his hold on her arm just long enough to grab her around the waist and throw her up and over his shoulder, one arm holding her legs firmly to his chest to stop her kicking him as he again set off down the corridor. Sakura shrieked and began pounding her fists against his back but received no reaction other than what sounded like a deep chuckle. Growling in rage at being handled like a rag doll she continued hitting his back, if only to make herself feel better.

* * *

Gaara was mid sentence in a conversation with Kankuro when he felt a slight flicker of his connection to the pinkette. It lasted for barely a second but the sudden rush of relief that came with it was more than he had expected and it overwhelmed him, he didn't even realise his legs had failed him until he registered his brothers concerned voice asking him if he was ok and arms holding him, preventing him from dropping to the floor. He noticed his breathing was uneven and while there was no tears he was surprised to find that his eyes were stinging slightly. He waited a second longer before pulling away from his brother and sitting down on the arm of the sofa, shoulders slumped slightly and staring blankly at the floor.

"Gaara..?"

"I... I felt Sakura. She's ok." he whispered, trying to focus on her but once again feeling nothing of her.

"Do you know where she is?" The brunette asked, still worried about his brother but eager for news on the girl Gaara seemed to have become so attached to.

"I wouldn't still be here if I did." he growled back, annoyed that he had been too surprised by the sudden reconnection that he hadn't been able to concentrate enough to figure out where she was. All he'd got from the connection was that Sakura was scared, but mixed in with the fear was an undertone of annoyance that was so typically Sakura it let him know she was alright. It didn't make him any less determined and desperate to find her, but the bubbling anger within him was relieved slightly by knowing she wasn't hurt.

"We'll find her, Gaara."

"I know."

* * *

It took Sasuke longer that usual to get away from the school. Normally the problem would be the number of girls trying to persuade him to sit at their table, but instead it was one lone blonde haired boy sat on a wall just inside the school gates. The Uchiha had spotted Naruto while he was still a little way from the gate, before the blonde saw him. He had contemplated going back and getting his car, but had decided that it would simply be quicker to walk even if Naruto tried to talk to him.

That assumption had turned out to be wrong, since the second Sasuke had stepped into Naruto's line of sight, the energetic blonde made his way over. For once, however, Naruto didn't seem to be in such a great mood. His usual smile had been replaced with a firm grim line, and his eyebrows were furrowed slightly. Sasuke tried his best to avoid the blonde, not because he looked a little annoyed, but because ever since he had broken his friendship with the blonde, Naruto seemed inclined to cling to him

"Oi, Uchiha" the blonde shouted, non too impressed with Sasukes attempts to go around him, despite the school drive only being 12 foot wide. "I want to talk to you."

"Whatever dobe" The raven replied, continuing to walk towards the school gates. He didn't have time for this. He had to get all the way to Starbucks for lunch with Kabuto, and then back to school. Talking with Naruto just didn't fit in anywhere. Ever.

"Don't walk away from me Sasuke!" Naruto was annoyed, and started to jog after the dark haired teen in order to block him off and force him to talk to him. Once he was in front of Sasuke he stopped and glared at him, "Why does Hinata think you have something to do with Sakura going missing?". Sasuke stopped and looked at the blonde, dark eyes boring into blue.

"I have no idea" he answered, finally, before stepping around the blonde and once again heading for the gate. Naruto watched after him for a few seconds before digging his hands into his pockets and heading back for the school. Hinata would be out of class by now and no doubt trying to find out what she could about her pink haired friends disappearance.

Sasuke looked back over his shoulder when he reached the gate and was pleased to see that Naruto was heading back to the school. The last thing he wanted was for the blonde to follow him and question him all the way to Starbucks and back. Although, he was slightly surprised that Naruto had given up so easily. He was normally pretty persistant when it came to getting what he wanted. Sasuke figured the blonde was probably too concerned about how his little Hyuga girlfriend was doing.

He walked quickly through the streets, taking a shortcut through an ally way that brought him out a few blocks down, but on the same street as Starbucks. The high street was fairly long, but at least most stores and shops were all on that one road rather than spread about like some other places he'd been.

* * *

Sakura was dropped roughly on her feet inside the room she had been kept in since she was kidnapped. Annoyed and slightly pink in the cheeks from being carried upside down, she glared at the tall blue tinted man who was now standing next to a broadly smiling Deidara. Well, he was smiling right up until the large man glared down at him, obviously unimpressed at having to catch Sakura and bring her back to her room.

"Uh, thanks for bringing her back, yeah." He mumbled nervously, flinching slightly when the man turned to walk out of the room, throwing a quick 'whatever' over his shoulder. The door shut behind him and the locks fixed back into place, leaving Deidara and a still annoyed Sakura alone. "You Ok?" Deidara asked smiling again.

"No! No I am not ok!" She shouted, trying desperately not to cry. It wasn't fair. She'd finally managed to get out of the room and then that.... that _wall_ of a man had grabbed her and thrown her back where she started. Frustrated she stalked over to the bed and threw her self down on it, burrowing her face into the pillow.

"You know I'm in trouble with the boss now, yeah?" Deidara said, still standing near the door and now fiddling with a small piece of clay he'd puled from his pocket.

"I don't care" Mumbled the pinkette in reply, face still pressed into the pillow. "You're the bastard keeping me here." Deidara didn't reply, and she thought he'd leave until the edge of her bed suddenly dipped down. When she looked up she found the blonde sitting on the edge of the bed, but facing away from her. The angle of his shoulders suggesting that maybe he wasn't as happy as he was making out.

"I don't want to keep you here, I just haven't got a choice, yeah." He said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, sitting up on the bed and folding her legs.

"They have my sister. They needed an explosives expert, so they took me and my sister. Told me if I didn't work for them, then they'd kill her. I don't even know where she is." He sighed, and placed his elbows on his thighs and leant on them, face in his hands. "I have to protect her, she's my little sister, yeah." Sakura looked down at the bed. She hadn't even considered that Deidara was in just as bad a position as she was, if not worse.

"How old is she?" She asked quietly, not knowing if the camera could pick up sound. She wondered absently if Deidara had forgotten about the camera.

"She'll be 9 next month. They took us when she was 5. I was 14."

"You knew how to make bombs when you were 14? Did your parents know?" Sakura asked, surprised.

"Yeah, it was one of my hobbies. We lived in an orphanage after our parents died when she was 3." He sniffled slightly. Sakura hadn't even realised he was crying. "I begged them not to take her, she was only a kid, but they wouldn't listen. She was the only way they'd have got me to work for them."

"I'm so sorry Dei." Sakura whispered, her own tears stinging her eyes.

"It's Ok. You have nothing to be sorry for." He turned slightly and smiled gently at her. "I just wanted you to know."

Sakura gave him a small smile in return, before it dropped slightly. "Dei..." she asked carefully, not sure how he would take her next question. "How... How do you know she's still alive?"

"I don't" he replied. "I've just got to hope, yeah?"

Sakura nodded slightly. She didn't want to say anything, but what were the chances that his sister was still alive after 4 years? She doubted they'd have let her go, as young as she was, she was still a witness, but would they have bothered to keep her all these years? Feed her and clothe her? Sakura couldn't see it.

"Dei, can't you do anything to help me? I don't even know _why_ I'm here." He shifted on the bed slightly before getting up. He look down at her sadly before shaking his head.

"I...I can't Sakura. I can't put my sister is danger. I'm sorry, yeah. I'll be back soon." He turned and was out of the door before Sakura could think of anything else to say.

* * *

Arriving at Starbucks, Sasuke immediately saw Kabuto sat at one of the small metal tables outside of the cafe, seemingly enjoying the sun while he could before going back to his uni lectures. He quickly made his way over and sat down, gladly accepting the hot cup of coffee that the silver haired teen pushed towards him. "How have you been?" He asked, taking a small slow sip of the steaming drink.

"Not too bad, just a little busy with uni." Kabuto replied, leaning back in his chair, one hand wrapped around his cup of coffe on the table. " How's school?"

"Same as usual, save for a few... minor occurrences." He replied, smirking slightly before again lifting the cup to his lips.

"The girl? What was her name... Sakura?"

"Oh, Sakura is just fine. At least she was the last time I saw her."

"Really? Last I heard a new boy at your school had made a move on her." Kabuto smirked when Sasukes eyebrows crinkled down into a displeased frown. "So it's true? You must be loosing your touch, Sasuke." He chuckled slightly as the frown turned into a glare before the raven settteled against the back of his seat with his usual arrogant but stoic look.

"Hardly. She'll come around soon enough."

Conversation moved on to other topics; weather, politics, fast cars, and before long Sasuke had filled his stomach with a rather nice Starbucks sandwich and was preparing to set off back to school. Part of him wished he had bothered to bring his car so he didn't have to walk back, but it would have taken him longer to arrive at Starbucks due to a rather tedious one way system and the lunch time rush hour. He stood up and was brushing a few crumbs from his clothes when Kabuto picked up his bag.

"What are you doing?" He asked, confused as to why the silver haired teen would need his bag.

"I was thinking you'd appreciate a ride back to school? My chauffer has to drive round that way, anyway." Kabuto smiled at the raven. Sasuke wasn't sure why Kabuto needed a chauffeur, nor where he got the funding for it. Whoever had taken an interest in the older teens educational talents was obviously loaded with more money than most people saw in one lifetime.

Not about to turn down his way out of walking back to school. Sasuke accepted Kabutos offer and walked with him to the regular sized limousine. As least he didn't cruise around in a stretch limo, that would be taking things a little far – even in Sasukes books. The chauffeur jumped out of the drivers side and happily opened the passenger door for them to get in. Well, Sasuke assumed he was happy, judging by how he bounced around and bowed till his nose almost touched the floor. He couldn't see his face due to the orange swirled oval mask that covered it. Was it even legal to drive when wearing a mask with only a single eye hole?

Before he had chance to debate the safety of the driver, Kabuto gave him a slight nudge from behind and he got into the car, shifting over to the other side so the silverette could get in beside him. The car door was closed and the oddly masked chauffeur jumped back into the drivers seat starting the engine before setting off in the direction of the school. It was only now Sasuke noticed how tired he felt, perhaps he should lay off the late nights for a while.

* * *

**Thank you for reading,**

**Please do me a favour and review. **

**Kitty.x.**


	17. No Deidara

_**It's a little short. Ok, WAY short, but i've been extreemly busy. You're lucky this is up now and not in another 3 months.**_

_**Apologies for the wait, again, yada yada yada. I'd spend longer apologising but i need to get to bed since i have to be up again in a few hours for work.**_

_**If there are typos, errors, or just general screw ups please let me know.**_

_**Much Love**_

_**Kitty.x.**_

* * *

It had been hours since the blonde explosives expert had left her room, but so far he hadn't come back. She was starting to get a little worried about him. He'd said something about him being in trouble with his boss, and considering what she already knew about these people, being in trouble probably wasn't a good thing. How expendable was Deidara? How easily could he be replaced by someone else? She nibbled on her nails, eyes locked on the door hopefully. _'Maybe he's just busy at the moment'_ She thought _'Or maybe he's annoyed at me. He told me all about his sister and I still asked for help. That was kind of selfish of me.' _Her internal monologue ended when the lights in the room suddenly dimmed, startling her. Had they done that before?

Sighing, she reached for the bag and took out her phone. Even if the useless thing didn't have a signal, she could at least tell the time with it. She waited as the screen loaded up, accompanied by the little start up tone. 'No Signal' flashed up on her screen as expected, but she ignored it and checked the time. 10pm. Perhaps the dimming of the lights represented night, but she couldn't recall them dimming before. She turned off her phone and shoved it back in her bag, along with all her school things, and moved to throw it back on the floor but stopped. She was bored. She had been bored for _hours_, and while there was some little voice in her head calling her crazy, she couldn't help but think that her homework could pass as entertainment for a while.

Glancing back to the door and waiting a few seconds, just in case the blonde showed up, she gave in and pulled her books from her bag before digging down to the bottom in search of a usable pen. For a short moment she worried that she didn't have one and would have to return to boredom, but her hand closed around a long thing plastic cylinder which she pulled out and found to be a blue biro. Never before had she felt a whoosh of relief for being able to do her homework. Wondering if the solitude and grey-white walls had driven her to insanity, she opened the first book on the pile and started reading.

* * *

"Yeh, thanks" He replied before hitting the 'end call' button and earning a bleep from his mobile. Shoving it into his pocket, he sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair which he had taken down from his usual high ponytail. He rarely wore it down for a few reasons, the first being it was troublesome - as it was always falling into his face, and the second being the number of girls who had called him 'cute' when his hair tie broke in the first year of high school. Girls are troublesome, he didn't want to attract them.

"Everything alright?" Neji asked, walking to the dorm bedroom and hooking his jacket over his bedpost. He'd just got back from his evening gym session and his hair was loose and wet from his shower, he wouldn't tie it back until it dried otherwise it would still be wet in the morning. He and Shikamaru had shared a dorm since the 2nd year. That decision had come after discovering that everyone else annoyed Neji when he had to live with them, and Neji was the only one who stood a chance of keeping up with Shika when he started thinking. That and he was pretty good at shogi too, which stopped Shikamaru getting too bored when there was nothing else to do.

"Yeh, just got off the phone to Asuma, he's in." Shika replied. His uncle Asuma had always been there to offer and hand when he needed it. He hadn't even needed to explain everything before his uncle had agreed to help out in any way he could.

"Good. What did he say about the authorities?"

"That they're a waste of space and should be left to eat their donuts." He replied with a wry grin.

Neji was about to say something back when there was a loud banging from their dorm door. They looked at each other for a second before Shika shrugged and dug in his pocket for his hair band and headed out of the dorm bedroom, out into the corridor and down towards the front door, where someone was just beginning a second round of loud knocks. Scraping his hair back into his ponytail he opened the front door just as the person was about the knock again and narrowly missed having a fist shaped dent in his chest.

"Ten-ten? What's up?" He asked, surprised to see the girl alone outside their door so late at night. He glanced behind her wondering if she was with someone but found her to be alone. Odd.

"Hi Shika, is Neji in? She answered, stepping closer to the door to be let in, as though she already knew the answer. Shikamaru opened the door wider, revealing the Hyuga standing a few paces further up the corridor looking on quizzically. "I want to know what's going on Neji."

"With what?" he asked, walking to the door and opening it fully so both he and the brunette boy were standing in the doorway.

"With you guys, Sakura, and that silly blonde bitch suddenly tagging around with Hinata. I Know something is going on, and I'll be damned if you're keeping me out of it." Her features were stern, her jaw set. A snow plough couldn't have moved her from their doorway without an answer and both the boys knew her well enough to know that. Neji and Shika shared a glance, quickly and silently communicating, before Neji stepped back and tilted his head towards the dorm sitting area, inviting her in.

A few minutes later, after Shika had fought with their faulty dorm door to get it to shut, Ten-ten was sitting on the beaten sofa with Shikamaru sprawled out next to her, looking to be half asleep and paying no attention to what might be said. Neji was standing, leant against a wall with his arms folded.

"What do you already know?" Neji asked, not entirely sure where to start. Knowing Ten-ten she probably had most of it figured out and was only there for confirmation of what she knew.

"I know that Sakura isn't on school campus. Something happened between her, Sasuke and that new red haired guy and suddenly she's disappeared. Hinata and Ino are suddenly friends, and you all seem to be plotting something, along with the red head and some people I've never seen before."

Neji looked to Shika and half sighed. It looked like the brunette would be leaving all the explaining to him. Typical. "Sakura is missing. She disappeared the other day after gym." He waited a second to let that settle in Ten-ten's mind before continuing "We're pretty suspicious of Sasuke because he's been after her again lately, and the other day he tried… well, he tried to force himself on her. According to my cousin, Gaara came out of nowhere and saved her which is why they seemed to be together before she disappeared. Sasuke wasn't too happy about it."

Ten-ten's jaw snapped shut. "And you're only telling me this _now_?! What the hell is wrong with you? Have you called the police?"

"No, and we're not going to. They'll only get in the way. Between all of us we have more brain and man power than the cops could ever hope to have, even if we are only high school students. We have Shika's uncle in on it as well."

Ten-ten frowned. "If you think it's Sasuke that's got her, why haven't you made him tell you where she is?"

"He's acting innocent. He claims he hasn't seen her."

"And you _believe him_" she shot to her feet, appalled that they could consider anything that cam from the Uchiha's mouth the truth, especially when one of their friends could be tied up somewhere, terrified.

"Not entirely," said Shikamaru, cutting off Neji before he could start "but what can we do? There's a possibility this could be bigger than Sasuke, if Gaara is any indication. At the moment we have an idea of where she could be, but nothing that's certain. From what I've seen, Gaara isn't making any decisive moves yet, but I think any leads we get will come from him. If you want to help us, please do, but don't make it anymore troublesome than it already is."

Ten-ten was silent for a moment. Taking in what Shika had said and the situation she was now aware of. Part of her wanted to go straight to the police, even though she knew Neji was right about them being useless. She wanted to help, of course she did, but what if they couldn't find her. What if Sakura was locked up somewhere, being hurt, and they couldn't get to her?

"Ten-ten?" Neji said, stepping towards the brunette girl.

"I'm in. I'll help. But I need you to promise that if we don't seem to be getting anywhere we'll get help, even if it is the police."

"OK." Agreed Shikamaru "We can do that"

* * *

Pain.

Confusion.

Sick. So sick.

Movement.

What happened?

What happened?

What happened?

Darkness…

* * *

She flopped down on her back and sighed. Homework was boring. Not quite as boring at staring at blank walls for hours on end, but boring enough to make you want to pick your eyes out with a rusty needle. Luckily, Sakura didn't have needle with her, and so her eyes were safe. For now. She'd checked her phone a few minutes ago and found that she had managed to waste away a grand total of… drum roll… one hour. The world hated her, she was sure.

There was still no sign of Deidara either. She nibbled on an already bitten down nail, and then cursed when it stung and began to bleed. She was worried about the blonde, more so than she was earlier before she started on her work. Infact the more minutes that ticked by, the less hopeful she became of the blonde returning, and that scared her more than anything. It was slightly selfish of her really, since the main reason she was so worried was that she didn't want to be left totally alone. At least with Deidara about she has someone to talk to. She couldn't really she her having a conversation with the blue guy that had hauled her back to her room over his shoulder.

Another sigh. They were becoming much too common in her world now. _"Maybe this is some kind of solitary torture. Bore me to insanity" _She thought, followed by a long yawn. She hadn't even realized she was tierd, so focused on her boredom as she was. Sleep sounded like a good option, unless of course boredom somehow worked its way into her dreams as well.

Kicking out a leg, she knocked her bag and books off the bed before shuffling back and shifting the bed covers from underneath her. She'd never realized quite how much she loved her Pj's until she couldn't have them and had to sleep in her clothes. She could have slept in her underwear, but the chances of her undressing in front of a camera with god-knows-who watching her through it were extremely low. Add on the possibility of the blue guy charging in and throwing her over his shoulder again and the chances went right down to 0. Never going to happen. The last thing she needed on top of everything else was being hauled down some corridor in her underwear.

Shimmying down under the covers and pulling them right up under her chin she silently hoped that someone would find her soon.

* * *

His head hurt. It pounded. What the hell had happened?

He was laying on his back. Blindfolded. Definitely blindfolded, he could feel the knot digging into the back of his head – or maybe that was just more pounding.

His head was foggy. His thoughts muddled.

Suddenly he slid sideways, slamming into the side of…something. Was he in a car? A van?

His impact with the side of whatever he was in hadn't done him any good. His head felt worse, the pounding doubled, and before he knew it he was returned to blackness.

* * *

_** Please Review. **_

_**Love You All**_


	18. Our Mother

Ok, please excuse me whilst i promptly die.

It's 03:52, i have to be at work in... 5 hours, and i'm still yet to sleep. BUT - _I DON'T CARE!_

This certaintly took me bloody long enough didn't it. _Thats writers block for you._

Apologised to the people that are still sticking with me, you are all AMAZING - I love every single one of you with all my heart.  
You guys are the reason that i continued to sit and stare and an empty screen until something finally come to mind,  
even after i reached the point where i just wanted to give up and quit, you guys have kept me going.

Thanks to _**EVERYONE**_ for all the supportive messages you have been sending.  
And even if you didnt send anything, i'm just happy that you are reading this chapter now.  
Thank alone makes me a very happy writer.

**Thank you so much everyone,**

**Much Love,**

**Kitty.x.**

**_Enjoy_... 3**

* * *

**Chapter 18: Mother**

The apartment was dark. Not so dark that a hand couldn't be seen an inch in front of the eye, but dark enough for the glow from the moon to elongate the shadows of objects, stretching and contorting them into the shapes of people, silhouettes of monsters, hiding, lying in wait for their unsuspecting victims.

Amongst the claws and teeth of the imaginary creatures, tangled within a maze of false tails and limbs, still and quiet, was a being of reality. He sat on the sofa, knees drawn close to his chest, breathing deep and even. To anyone approaching from behind the teen would have appeared to be sleeping, but from the front his eyes were open, glued to one particular spot on the floor where they had been fixed for the last several hours, ever since his brother had retired to the spare bedroom.

Gaara enjoyed the darkness. He felt at home, hidden from prying eyes and a world where he didn't seem to fit. The darkness brought comfort. Many people would be scared, minds in overdrive, paranoid that something from the depths of their nightmares would crawl from the shadows. For the redhead, he was the worst thing there. Why should he be scared of a shadow when he has his own person demon residing within his head?

"_**Hmm. Not sleeping again tonight?" **_The demons voice was lazy, bored. His caged world inside his carriers mind was much to calm for his liking. Earlier it had been bubbling, simmering away with carefully controlled anger. Now, however, there was barely anything. Shukaku wasn't entirely sure of what to make of it. _**"Are you listening to me, boy?"**_

"_Unfortunately" _The read head murmured, blinking slowly and retreating out of his trance. _"And your first question was irrelevant, I never sleep."_

"_**That's not entirely true... there was that time about 7 years back wh-"**_

"_Which we agreed to not talk about." _Gaara snapped back. He knew the demon was just trying to annoy him out of boredom, but sitting and staring into space was better than pacing the room and agonising over what was happening to his pinkette. His Sakura. He stretched one leg out from his crouched position on the sofa, his knee clicking loudly in the silence of the room, before bringing it back and returning to how he was. He felt tired, which was unusual, the demons presence normally fed him energy. Over the years of never permitting himself to sleep he had become used to the ache behind his eyes, but sat alone in the darkness with just the glow of the moon to keep him company, he was more than just a little aware of it.

His ears picked up the soft sound of rain starting to hit the window. A slight whistle of wind. An occasional snore from his brother.

And then his phone rang. Loudly.

It took the red head by surprise and although he'd never admit it, he'd jumped at the shill sound cutting the silence. He swore before getting up from his position on the sofa and slowly making his way to his mobile on the kitchen side. No one who had his number would be awake; the clock claimed it was 4:12am.

As he drew closer the ringing stopped but the phone continued to buzz from the vibrations. The lit up screen indicated that he had one new message from a number that the phone didn't recognise. He picked up the phone and pressed the button to access his messages and found the text; no subject, sender unknown.

He accessed the message.

_~bunker h3-r25 save her~

* * *

_

Sakura awoke to the sound of someone swearing loudly before slamming the door behind them as they exited. She sat up in the bed and looked around the dark room. It was nigh on pitch black, the only light now coming from the red light on the side of the camera and the light on the door keypad screen. They cast a slightly eerie glow about the room, and were enough to see by once her eyes adjusted.

There was someone else in the room.

Currently they were slumped face down on the floor with a bag over their head, struggling with the rope tied around their hands behind them. Hesitating a second, she stood up from the bed and walked over to the person, who stopped moving at the sound of her footsteps on the cold floor. As she got closer the new arrival attempted to get up onto their knees, but failed, the rope tied around their legs making things more difficult than it should have been. The pinkette reached forwards and then slowly placed her hands on the person's shoulders before gently pushing them up so they were sat on their knees.

"I'm going to take this bag off you, ok?" she asked softly. Only god knew how long he had been stuck like this. It was definitely a he, if the lack of chest was anything to go by. Whoever it was, he nodded. Carefully, she loosened the bag at the base where it was tied loosely around his neck before pulling it up and off.

Sasuke was dizzy and confused. Whatever drug he had been given to knock him out was still in his system, and being carried upside down hadn't helped his orientation either. Due to this, or possibly because he was still blindfolded under the bag, he was in no way prepared for the fist that slammed into his face and sent him flying sideways back on to the floor. He hadn't particularly liked being carried by some great brute, but right now it looked pretty good. He'd have swore at the pain had he not been gagged as well.

"You... _bastard_. What the fuck are you playing at Sasuke? I can't believe you. You have me kidnapped and then, _then_, show up pretending to be a victim? What kind of reaction are you looking for?"

Was that Sakura? Sasukes muddled mind struggled to work out what was going on, why was she hitting him? He mumbled incoherently against the gag and suddenly the blindfold was ripped from his head, taking several strands of hair with it. He was surprised to find that the room was as dark as it was, but there was enough light to see the pinkette and understand that she was, in fact, livid.

Sakura was stood over Sasuke, still holding the blindfold in her left hand, right hand clenched tight in what looked like a soon to be second punch. Fight or flight kicked in and he instinctively moved his legs around in front of him and shuffled back from the enraged girl until he hit a wall, which he used to push himself upright. Stability was a bit of an issue, feet being tied and all, but at least his head wasn't within kicking distance anymore. One worry out the way.

"Sasura" he said through the gag "aite". She looked at him sceptically before letting out a sigh and stepping towards him, hands held out in front of her, open palmed. Once close enough she reached up around his neck and untied the gag.

"You better have a good explanation".

* * *

'_The person you are calling is busy at the moment; please leave a message after the beep'_

The phone was flipped shut and half thrown on to the table by the brunette before he hunched back of the table, all the while ignoring the black rimmed eyes staring at him from across the room. Waking up to the sound of his bedroom door being almost ripped from it hinges hadn't put him in the best of moods, but then again the shriek for Nejis direction had just about made up for it. No doubt the Hyuga would deny it, but Shika new what he'd heard and he was just waiting to bring it up.

He turned the map on the table and continued to study it. Finding a bunker that was barely marked on a map and came with no co-ordinates was no easy task, even for Shika who had spent more time with his uncle than his parents would have liked. It would probably be a lot easier and quicker to just ask his uncle where it was... if Asuma would answer his phone. The man was useless.

That aside, the brunette was still slightly puzzled as to how the red head had got into the dorm in the first place. He'd been mulling it over in the back of his head for the past 20 minutes but he wasn't coming up with any answers. There were no signs of forced entry, no windows or doors left open. Hell, he'd even taken a few glances at the ceiling in case Gaara had descended from the roof somehow, but nothing. He'd have asked the Hyuga for his thoughts on it had his white eyes not been half closed as he struggled to stay awake.

There was movement in the peripheral vision and he glanced up to see Gaara shift slightly from being stood leaned against the door frame, to leaning back against the wall next it and continuing the bore holes through the brunette. He'd barely said a word since he'd charged into the bedroom and thrown a mobile at them with the bunker code, just stood and stared at them, waiting. Shikamaru had no doubt that the second they knew where they were going Gaara would be gone, whether the others were with them or not.

There was a quiet knock at their door, and Neji jolted back awake. He glanced at the other two in the room before getting up from the sofa and heading for the door, eyeing the red head as he passed him. He flicked the key round in the door and opened it, finding Hinata, Ino and Ten-ten all standing there wearing random mismatched clothes they had just thrown on and very little makeup, except for Ino who had apparently mastered the art of applying eyeliner whilst running.

"Anything yet?" Ten-ten asked, stepping into the dorm and the others following her.

"Not yet, we're trying to get hold of Asuma." Neji replied, gesturing the girls towards the living room before moving to shut the door again. He'd almost closed it when a foot suddenly jammed its way in to the gap and a blonde head pushed its way in. Surprised at Narutos presence, Neji opened the door and let the blonde in.

"Uh, did Hinata just get here?"

Neji nodded and shut the door, leading the blonde into the living area where everyone but the red head was now gathered around the map whilst Shika complained about them standing in the light.

"Look! How do you all expect me to find this bunker if you're blocking my light? I need to see! Everyone over _that_ side of the room before I take this map an-" his rant came to an immediate cease as his phone suddenly blast music into the room and buzz violently against the table. He snatched it up and answered it without even looking at the name.

"And what has taken you so long? ...We have a bunker code... yes... no, nothing... h3-r25... Gaara was tipped off... Sakuras boyfriend... no... Asuma!" A pause. "Well I've figured it's in the 3.27.64 area judging by the locations of the remaining bunkers that are still shown on the map but... no... ok, ETA?... Make it 10, I have a bunch of people about to kill me for info... well make your calls on the way... Right."

He flipped the phone shut and paused.

"Asuma is on his way. He knows the bunker, but won't confirm where it is before he gets here. He's bringing 2 others with him as well, but I don't know them. He'll be here in 10 minutes. Any questions?"

Silence.

"Yeh... I have one. What's the plan after your uncle gets here?" asked Ten-ten, now standing next to Neji who's arm was angled suspiciously as though it was resting on her lower back. Ino had spotted this about would be giving Ten-ten a firm grilling later on.

"At the moment we don't have one. If Asuma knows the bunker, even though it hasn't been used by the military since the war, something is going on out there they we don't know about. We'll construct a plan once we know the full details of what we're getting into."

The group was quiet for a moment. Hinata took a seat on the sofa and Ino followed her before pulling out her phone and messing with it for a moment. Nartuto moved across the room to lean on the arm of the sofa closest to Hinata, his arm curving around her shoulders.

Gaara was still standing against the wall, face totally emotionless, eyes distant. All he could think about was getting his pinkette back. His rose.

"_**Our rose, boy"**_

He ignored the demon. Shukaku was trying to get a rise out of him, just pointing out the truth. He and the demon were one, Sakura would be mated to both of them. Surprisingly, his mind was rather calm. He had been expecting a little more turmoil, more rage, anticipation of the approaching bloodbath.

And a bloodbath it would be, for no guilty party would be leaving that bunker in less than 6 body bags.

* * *

His fist pounded on the door to the rundown house. His childhood home was little more than a broken shack now, left to fall into disrepair. It's once white wood exterior was now grey, brown in places from wood rot. At least two of its windows had been boarded up, and not recently either, the owner simply couldn't be bothered to spend a day sober enough to sort the house out, let alone himself. It wasn't as though he was poor either, just too drunk to do anything worthwhile with his millions. He was sad man in a sad situation.

The door was unlocked from the other side and that practically dragged open, the bottom of the door scrapping across the wood due to the warped doorframe. It opened a little less that halfway before it appeared it would be going no further and a blond pigtailed hair popped round the corner. "Oh, Kankuro?" Temari glanced back into the house, before edging out of the house and pulling the door almost closed behind her. "What's going on?"

"Gaara received a text with the name of the bunker that Sakura is in. He went to get that Shikamaru guy to find out where it is." For once his grin was totally diminished, he eyes had slight bags showing underneath.

"Right... I'll let Dad know I'm leaving early." With that she disappeared back into the house. Kankuro could envision it all in his head. She'd go back into the living room to find their father lying across the 3 seat sofa, TV on but muted, surrounded by empty liquor bottles and bear cans. He had once been a tall, well worked man. Now his muscles had wilted from all the time spent on the sofa, whilst the pounds had piled on from all the booze and takeaways.

Temari, bless her soul, had been the only one of the three to not completely give up on their father. She went round a least once a fortnight and tried to tidy the place. Tried to get their dad to move from the sofa, to wash, to eat a proper meal. She always returned looking tired and stressed, never successful.

Kankuro would go around occasionally, normally when his sister needed his help with something. He pitied his father more than anything. He'd watched the once top level business man crumble, watched him destroy himself in the years following his wives death. He had Temari had once looked up to their dad as though he was their mind of the world. They had craved his attention and loved every minute he spent with them as children. The perfect happy family. Mum and Dad. Girl and boy. He hated seeing their father as he was now.

And then there was Gaara. He hadn't seen their father since he was more than a few years old. He had been sent away when he was young, practically abandoned by the family. They had all hated him when they were young. They had all blamed Gaara for their mothers' death, including their father.

He'd been moved from foster home to foster home after Temari, despite still holding a sense of hate for her youngest brother, had reported thier fathers abuse of the youngster anonymously. She blamed Gaara, but not enough to justify the bruises she would see appearing on a daily basis. Her father wouldn't care for him, so she did. She fed him, dressed him, helped him fall asleep at night. Kankuro hadn't understood why she cared at first, it had taken him a few more years to realise what she had begun to understand. Truthfully it could never have been the red heads fault, a child that young could never be held responsible for the actions of an adult.

Their mother had been depressed long before she fell pregnant with their younger brother, although at first she had hidden it well. There were times when they could see her smile was strained and didn't quite reach her eyes. They all saw how she slowly but surely withdrew from them. Their father had tried his best, showering her in love and affection. He had bought her presents and taken them out on family day trips. Nothing seemed to help.

Then she fell pregnant.

As bad timing as it was, surprisingly the pregnancy had been relatively easy. There were even times during the nine months that she seemed to be slightly happier and would spent time outside the house, in the garden. Sometimes she would just sit in the sun and soak it up, other times they would help her plant flowers or add little statues that she would make short walks to the local garden store for. They thought they had part of her back.

However, a month or so after Gaara was born the depression came back, teamed with post-natal depression it was worse than it ever had been. She lost weight, turning into a shell of the person her loved ones had once known. Kankuro remembered coming home from school one day to find her in the kitchen, her long locks of red hair tangled upon the floor leaving tuffs of different lengths across her head where she had cut it all off. Temari had done her best to tidy it up and they all tried to convince her than she was still pretty, but she had sunk further and further. Her weight plummeted until she was almost skeletal, her cheeks curving inward on her face rather than out. All her clothes would hang from her frame, not that she ever seemed to notice for care. She would just sit by the window onto the back yard all day, just staring.

It had been the week before Gaaras first birthday when she had suddenly shown signs of improvement. She began to look after herself properly again, she would get up and get their breakfasts before getting herself ready. Her clothes still hung off her, but she chose those that weren't so obvious. Her hair had begun to grow out again slightly and she had Temari trim it a little to keep in neat. A small amount of makeup even made an appearance on some days. She would cook and clean again. She made a trip or two to the store which she hadn't done in months. Things seemed to be improving.

As his birthday approached she went out and bought presents for Gaara. She bought and set up birthday banners and balloons across the house and garden, a few even made it to the lampposts in front of the house. Their mother even went as far as organising a small party for the 1 year old, to celebrate his first year of life.

The party had been fantastic. She had home cooked all the food on the finger buffet and it was amazing. She had always been a good cook, even for the little things. The double tier crea sponge cake was even made in their kitchen. They had watched with apt attention as she had baked the sponge and then added the jam and cream before covering the entire cake in think pale blue icing, finishing with a white icing boat in the middle of the top tier. They had all commented on how nice it was.

Everyone was so proud of her, so happy she had pulled through and put herself back on her feet.

No one expected to find her 3 hours later, hung by a piece of rope from a thick branch of the garden tree, Gaara sitting just out of reach of her feet as the soft wind swung her slightly from side to side. The red headed child had been totally unaware of the scene above him, sat there playing with a little wooden boat his mother had bought for a present.

He hadn't understood why his father had broken down there and then, or why a neighbour had quickly scooped him up and taken him indoors with his brother and sister. He hadn't even understood that someone very important to him was gone. All he knew was that his toy boat from his Mummy was still out in the garden and he screamed for it.

That had been the end of their father.

That bright summers day they lost both of their parents.

Kankuro broke back out of his thoughts as the door scraped open again and Temari came out wearing a denim jacket. As usual she looked worn down, even after only a few hours in the house. She tugged the door shut behind her and shoved her key in the lock, fiddling for a few seconds before it finally turned and locked the door.

"You lock him in now?" Kankuro asked, not having noticed her ever do it before.

"What difference does it make? He never leaves and anyone who knocks is ignored. He has a key if he ever needs it, if he can find it in his drunken state that it." She took in a deep breath on non stale air and walked down the stairs that her brother had already descended.

"What if there's a fire or something and he can't get out?" he looked back at the house, wondering if their dad ever even looked outside anymore.

"Sometimes I wonder if that would be such a bad thing." Her reply was quiet, her step barely faltered as she said it, but there was a slight tremor in her voice.

Kankuro knew not to say anymore.

* * *

**Thank you all so much for reading. **

**Please leave comments as i know my writing style has changed yet again.**

**Love you all**

**Kitty.x.  
**


	19. Trigger Finger

**Oh Jesus fucking christ. This just gets harder.**

I might type something here worth reading later, but for now just enjoy the latest chapter that i've just about killed myself to get posted.  
I'm plotting, writing and proof-reading all on my own here. Plus working a full time job and breaking my back trying to keep all my friends happy.  
They complain when i write rather than seeing them ¬_¬ Fail.

_Please cancel any plans to lynch me due to the wait. (And please review!)_

**Much Love,**

**Kitty.x.**

* * *

"So you actually expect me to believe that you have nothing to do with this?" Sakura glared at the dark haired boy leant up against the wall across from the bed she was sat on. If he had been closer, she would have hit him. Again. After she had removed the gag, they'd spent a fair amount of time arguing over everything that had happened, (which was more along the lines of Sakura ranting whilst Sasuke tried to dodge her beating), before Sakura had actually allowed him to try and explain himself. He had been trying to do that for a least an hour, telling her the full story of what had been going on since she had disappeared, making sure he didn't leave out the number of suspicious looks and glares he'd gotten from her friends. She seemed surprised that they were gearing up to try and find her without any police help, even if it did make sense considering the uselessness of the local police. However, judging by the pinkettes everlasting dubious expression, he wasn't going to be convincing her of his innocence any time soon.

"Yes," he replied simply, barely concealing a sigh at the end of it and hoping that finally, this time around, she would believe what he had told her. He was slowly growing frustrated with the lack of co-operation; she just wouldn't accept anything that he said for the truth. It had taken him a good ten minutes to have her believe that Hinata and Ino weren't killing each other the last he saw of them. He watched her closely as she appeared to think over what had been said before she once again shot him the 'I don't believe you, you asshole' glare and folded her arms across her chest in a display of annoyance. Sasuke leaned his head back against the wall and sighed audibly before rubbing at his temples in frustration and stepping away from the wall towards Sakura. "Come _on, _Sakura! Why would I do this?"

"I don't know, Sasuke," She grated out "Why would you?"

He stared at her for a second before closing his eyes and shaking his head in exasperation. Fed up, he dragged a hand across his right eye as though the repetitive explaining was taking a great toll on his energy reserves. Then again... perhaps that had been defending him self from the livid pink haired girl earlier, when every time he opened his mouth she hit him for lying to her. Al least things had progressed somewhat from then. ...Kind of. "I wouldn't. Honestly Sakura, I've been a bastard but I'm not that bad. How do I benefit from locking you up in a bunker?"

Sakuras eyes narrowed into a venomous glare and she stood up, no longer happy to be sat down and looking up at him. Her lips formed into a tight line as though she was trying desperately not to start shouting obscenities at him like she had an hour before. "Sasuke..." her voice was low and filled with barely restrained anger towards the Uchiha. Involuntarily, Sasuke took a step back away from her, completely dumbfounded as to what had caused the sudden fury from the pinkette, but he knew better than to be to close to her when she had the space to swing a fist. "...You lying _bastard!_"

Almost caught off guard, Sasuke reeled back as Sakura once again ran at him and started an assault upon his person all over again. It surprised him each time she hit him how hard she could punch when she was really angry, even if he was just standing there and taking most of it. It wasn't agonising, but he'd have a few bruises in the morning. He'd had weaker punches thrown at him by a good few of the lads he knew, so Sakura wasn't soft by anyones standards. "Wait- ow..._ow! -_ Sakura!" Trying to get out of her way he stepped back further and found himself colliding with the wall he had been leaning on not a few minutes before. It took him by surprise as he hadn't realised he was so close to it. Once again with no where left to run, he took to trying to convince her that he wasn't the enemy al over again. "Sakura -_ow! - _I swear I'm not lying!"

"Then how do you explain how you know we're in a bunker?" She snapped at him, stopping her attack but eyes furious and promising further violence if he gave an answer she didn't deem acceptable. Sasuke remained silent for a moment, his ribs and abdomen aching where she had hit him and he was sure he tasted blood, so maybe she'd caught him in the face too. Psycho. Slowly, making sure she could see he wasn't retaliating against her; he brought up a hand and brushed one of her loose bangs back behind her ear. Her hair was always so soft. He watched as her brows furrowed, in a manner he would have called cute, before she stepped back slightly and out of his reach.

"You really don't trust me, do you." He sighed. Why was it that this girl held the ability to drive him completely insane? She could make him feel more put down with just a few words than any other girl ever had, ever. Some logical part of his head could understand that she didn't trust him and that it was his own fault due to his inability to act like anything but a total bastard, but the Uchiha part of him just couldn't grasp the concept of someone, especially a girl, not liking him and his perfectness. Sakura just didn't make any sense to him, but that is what kept him interested. The faster she ran from him, the quicker he followed. She was the only one he couldn't just have because he wanted to. It was somewhat refreshing.

"Of _course _I don't trust you! You had me kidnapped and locked in this bloody bunker!"

"It wasn't me!" he shouted, startling the girl. "I know you don't believe me, but I had nothing to do with this! The only reason I knew we're in a bunker is because one of the bastards that drove me here, tied up and half _unconscious_, happened to mention it to the other guy. I have been _just_ as worried as everyone else but I could hardly play happy families and help try to find you when they were all certain it was me that had done it. This wasn't me! I wouldn't do this to you! I've been doing my best to find you without their help, for fucks sake. I don't know what I have to do to prove I'm not this much of an asshole, but I'm all out of ideas. You haven't even explained why you thought it was me in the first place!" He breathed hard for a moment, recovering his breath after his rant. His lip was stinging and by now he was fairly sure Sakura has split it during her last bout of violence.

Sakura was staring at him, surprised that he'd spoken so much all at once. He obviously wasn't as bad as Gaara in the lack of speak department, but he definitely had his moments. That hadn't been one of then. He'd sounded pretty sincere too, although she didn't let the anger fade from her eyes. She wasn't going to let her guard down that easy especially as she still had several reasons not to trust him.

"If it wasn't you, Sasuke, then why did I see you when I was passing out? You put the god damned chloroform over my face. Not to mention they know your name. How do they know you, and refer to you as a leader, if you're not involved. You're the only Uchiha I've ever heard of."

The total confusion that momentarily passed over Sasukes face was so genuine that Sakura almost wondered if she'd heard wrong, or if her eyes had tricked her. She was sure though, there was no mistaking those eyes she had seen as her world had gone dark and she'd slipped into unconsciousness. Even as she looked at Sasuke, stood not a few feet from her, she knew they were the same eyes she had seen. No one else had eyes like Sasuke Uchiha.

The expression that followed confusion took Sakura back slightly. The fearful look he cast towards the locked door as though a monster would charge through it any second was something she'd never seen grace the dark haired teens face. Even with Gaara bearing down upon him he'd somehow maintained his look of arrogance and his calm. Now... Sakura didn't understand. The sudden change in Sasuke unnerved her and sent a group of sickly butterflies flittering around her insides. Something seemed to be wrong. Sasuke didn't just zone out with the same look a child has when they're first left alone in their bedroom in the dark. Hesitantly she reached forwards to nudge him from the daze he had fallen into.

"Sasuke?"

He didn't look at her, instead his eyes drifted about the room, searching. "We need to get out of here."

She frowned. What a stupid statement. "I already knew that, what wrong?" she watched him as he began to pace back and forward a few steps either away, apparently mumbling to himself words that Sakura couldn't hear well enough to understand. He reached up and scraped a hand through usually perfectly placed locks and knocked them into a more unkempt fashion that he normally only wore after a PE session. Strangely, Sakura had always thought he looked nicer like that, more... human. Even in the current situation it was good to see that he wasn't perfect. Although how his hair had come out of that bag in the near perfect state it was, she would never know.

He continued to pace, not even glancing at her as he went on and on. She'd never seen her ex this stressed before. It made her even more nervous than she already was, and it was bad enough already. What could possibly be going on that was instil fear into the _great_ Sasuke Uchiha. Growing impatient with him pacing and the lack of answers she stepped forwards again and grabbed him by both arms, stopping him in his tracks.

She'd barely managed to open her mouth to speak when she found herself winded as she was slammed against the wall and pinned in place by the dark haired teen. Somewhere in her mind she screamed, not liking the positioning anymore than she had the first time he'd trapped her, but externally she remained quiet except for the choked breathing to pull air into her lungs. Somewhat more concerning than her need for oxygen was the positioning of Sasukes hands, which he appeared to have placed exactly where the pinkette didn't want them. One lingered with his first two digits hooked just into the top of her jeans, while the other was twisting a small lock of her hair around and around a finger. He was too close. Far too close. A small part of her felt sad that his apology in the school gym had not been genuine, she had hoped that they would be able to be friends and that the raven haired teen wouldn't doing anything more stupid than he had already, but she was wanting too much. As upset as she was, the boiling anger inside her overrode it all. Bastard.

She couldn't look it him. Her chin remained firmly set on her chest, her eyes cast down and away from that arrogant look that she knew would be on his face. Struggling to ignore the burning in her chest she struggled to bring her hands up between them and tried to push him away, failing to move him even an inch.

"What are you doing, love? Trying to push me away already?"

Sakura froze at the pet name and the familiar cocky drawl that had spoken it, then shivered slightly as he unexpectedly ran a finger down the side of her face. The sudden rush of fear than ran through her almost made her legs buckle, her thoughts wild on what was going to happen. She would think up the worst possible outcome, only for a new more sinister one to manifest seconds later. She seriously hated her imagination sometimes, when it made everything end so much worse than it ever really could. She hoped. He was so close to her, pressed up against her and unmoving. All the force and power she had had earlier all slipped away the second he had her against the wall. She hated feeling so powerless, so weak.

The hand stroking her face moved down to her chin and pulled it up for her to look at him. She tried to resist but he simply pressed harder until she gave in and looked up. As she had expected he had a smug look plastered across his face, mocking her silently. Typical Uchiha. She took some pleasure from the fact that his bottom lip was slightly swollen and a little bloody. It was good to know she had succeeded in doing some damage, shame she couldn't physically stomp on the bastards' ego. The pinkette was brought out of her momentary thoughts when he suddenly pressed forwards and captured her lips forcefully with his. She struggled immediately, hands pushing helplessly at his chest, and the wall behind her preventing her from escape. He had caught her legs between his own when he had first pinned her, probably remembering the force in which she kicked him in the family jewels last time he had done this. With some effort though she managed to wriggle a leg free and kick him in the shin as hard as the closed in space would allow. She thought she'd landed a decent hit, but he barely flinched. He moved slightly to re-trap her legs between his own, and he pulled back from the kiss, smirk in place and simply rose an eyebrow at her glare.

"You're a bastard Sasuke" She hissed at him, just getting her words out before he slammed back into her, harshly knocking her head into the wall behind her and causing her to gasp in pain. His tongue invaded her mouth for a second before she clamped her teeth together and forced him out. In her momentary lapse of attention however, she almost missed the movement of his lower hand as it moved across and blatantly began trying to undo the button on her jeans. She struggled some more but she was well and truly pinned to the wall, her legs trapped between his and her arms now trapped between them from how close he had pressed against her. The only gap was the few inches where he had moved his hips back in order to get to her jean fastening. She continued keep her mouth shut and refused to kiss back, panicking more and more as he fiddled with the button.

Her heart stopped when he popped it open.

* * *

Being the dignified pair that they were, Temari and Kankuro barrelled through the door and all but fell on top of the three adults that had entered the now crowded dorm just moments before them. Shutting the door behind them and shuffling into the room, they decided against saying anything in fear of breaking the oppressive silence as everyone just stood and waited for someone else to speak. The three adults that came in weren't anyone that Temari had seen before, but she guessed one to be the Asuma guy that Shikamaru he been taking about; probably the one holding the map. The three of them looked like they were prepared for the worst, judging by the twin guns each of them had holstered... not to mention the large rifle that was strapped to the back of the one with longer hair and the silly piece of stick in his mouth. She wasn't sure if they'd missed the introductions, but she assumed not, going by the fact they had barely got through the door in front of them. There was a sigh and the map was folded and placed into a pocket on the front of his jacket. His eyes swept the room before he ran a hand through his black upright mop of hair and puffed, as though working out what was next was a great effort. His gaze, along with a raised eyebrow, settled on Shikamaru who immediately bristled knowing exactly what the older man was thinking.

"Don't blame me. There were three of us when I first tried calling you. I'm not being the one to tell them that they're not all coming with us."

There was immediate disorder at the end of Shikas last sentence, the majority of the room outright refusing to stay behind, while those that remained quiet simply shared a look of exasperation. To those that thought about it, it made sense for only some of them to go, preferably the ones that could keep their heads when all hell broke loose as they were so sure it would do. There was little or no point dragging extra people around that were pretty much good for nothing but cannon fodder... Ino being a prime example.

"Will you all _shut it_!" Surprised silence followed Kankuros rather loud outburst, who had intervened having seen the impending doom as Gaaras eyebrow began to twitch in irritation. He congratulated himself on a spectacular save.

"Before we move on to details, I'm Asuma. This here is Yamato and stick boy is Genma" He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the guy with the longish brown hair who was pouting somewhat at the nickname. He removed the piece of stick and twiddled it in his fingers instead as if trying to make a point that he didn't _need_ the stick. "We're part of a specialist military team trained in dealing with terrorists and sensitive hostage situations, and that's about all I'm telling you about us. Now, we'd rather go in to this on our own-"more mumbles of disagreement sounded around the room "-_BUT_ Shikamaru is coming with us, and anyone here he knows can handle themselves if they want to." He looked directly at the sofa where 3 of the 4 girls in the room were sitting "And no girls."

Honestly, Asuma probably should have been expecting the offended shouting that came next, mainly from two of the girls, but the knife that imbedded itself in the wall not an inch from the side of his head was likely a bit of a surprise. Ten-ten did not look even remotely impressed but before she could open her mouth to yell more abuse, Neji got there first.

"Hinata, sit down. Ten-ten, don't argue with me, just stay here. I'm not having either of you in any kind of danger – whether you can handle it or not." He pointedly looked at Ten-ten, trying to convey that he have every belief she could look after herself but the girl wasn't even looking at him, instead glaring angrily at Asuma. Hinata, accustomed to following what her cousin said was sat back on the sofa already. Being the typical peace keeper the female Hyuga reached out and grabbed her brunette friend by the wrist, tugging gently to pull her back to her seat. Ten-ten wasn't happy, but at least there were no more knives being thrown.

"What about me?" Ino asked, still standing and slightly hurt that no one was telling her to stay behind where she was safe. There was a moment of silence before she too was pulled back to her seat by the white eye girl while the others looked on before turning their attention back to Asuma and Shikamaru who at some point moved to stand next to him and had already pried the knife from the wall.

"Naruto, you stay with the girls, make sure they stay here and safe. Neji and Gaara, obviously you're with us. Kankuro?" Shika raised the question to the tattooed male, having never seen him fight.

"I'm in." He replied simply, grinning like Christmas had come early.

"Right then" Asuma placed a cigarette to hang loosely between his lips, "I suppose we'll be going then. You have 5 minutes to gather your shit, then we're out of here. We'll be outside." Casting one last look around the room to check for questions, he headed for the front door, lighter already in hand and with his two companions closely at his heel, Genma having to duck slightly under the doorframe to avoid the long barrel of the rifle colliding with it.

There was silence in the room for a bare moment before both Shika and Neji headed for the bedroom to grab what they needed while the others stayed in the living room, talking quietly between them selves. Seemingly unbothered by being asked to stay behind, Naruto was surprisingly quiet lent against the dorm wall almost opposite the red head. There were staring across the room at each other but both were glazed over and paying no attention to what was going on around them.

"_**It's been a while, Kyubi. You seem smaller than I remember."**_

"_**Ha. I could say the opposite about you. Perhaps it's time for a diet, Shukaku?"

* * *

**_

In the moment that Sasuke managed to undo the button on her jeans you could have heard a pin drop a mile away. At least that's how it sounded to the pinkette. All sound seemed to have been sucked from the world as she had been thrown into a panic, everything was silent, she couldn't even hear herself breathe. A sudden hazy thought was that she had stopped breathing. Had she stopped breathing? Her muddled and scared mind deciphered that perhaps her loss of basic functions was not that she was panicking to the point of passing out, but rather that she had cut off her own supply of oxygen when all her reasonable thought processes left her to fend for herself. In a second of clarity she forcefully dragged in a deep breath of air, suddenly aware of the fierce burning in her lungs as they feasted greedily on the new air like starved animals. Then, as if she was on a plane descending back to the ground, her ears popped and all sound within the room rushed back in and her head seemed to clear of the haze. She was a second from renewing her fight against the raven, who continued to keep her pinned against the wall, when she door of the room suddenly swung open and Deidara stalked in, gun levelled on the back of Sasukes head. Sakura honestly didn't know what to be happier about. Deidara being alive and well or Deidara saving her from Sasuke.

"You let go of Sakura and I don't blow your brains across the wall, yeah." He still held that young playful tone in his voice, but the anger was barely restrained behind it. The gun in his hand shook slightly and his finger twitched just shy of the trigger. Sasuke, always the bright one, let go of Sakura and slowly turned around to face the blonde with his hands raised. Deidara nudged the gun to the left of him to indicate that Sasuke was to move away from the girl who was hastily fixing her clothing and rubbing at tears she hadn't realised were there.

"You Ok, yeah?" Deidara asked a slight guilty note to his voice.

"You took your time." Sakura replied quietly, still in the process of composing herself. The look that fell across the blondes face was akin to that of a beaten puppy. Intent on ensuring the pinkette was ok he dropped his guard for a second and the next thing he knew he was face down on the floor, the right hand side of his face stinging from the sudden impact. At some point between standing and laying he'd let go of his gun and now found himself empty handed. Blinking, he rolled himself over quickly and spotted his weapon a few feet in front of him and lunged for it, not getting even halfway there before a heavy kick to his chest sent him flying sideways back on the floor, once again face down and only just able to breath through the tightness of his injured ribs. He barely had chance to get his bearings enough to notice the footsteps approaching before a sharp pain exploded in the back of his skull and everything went black.

Sakura stood staring at the Uchiha in shock, her eyes wide and unbelieving. She flinched back slightly as Sasuke turned to her, still holding the gun in his right hand although it was pointing down and not directly at her. He paused for a moment, an unsure look on his face, before he extended his gun-free hand out to her and beckoned her forwards.

"Come on, Sakura. Let get out of here."

* * *

Reviews!

Please and Thank you!


	20. No Girls

So... Hi?

I feel like a complete failure right now. I know it's been years (literally) since i updated this story, and other than a severe case of writers block i have no excuses what so ever. I have had part of this chapter written since i posted chapter 19 and it's just been sitting in a folder on my computer waiting for me to grow the balls to actually finish it.

See, when i started writing this it was just for fun. It was something that i was doing because i enjoyed doing it. Originally i only intended it to be some small shitty story, maybe a few chapters long, entirely generic and with a boring ending. Then... gradually, it evolved. Obviously my writing style evolved too, which might be part of it, but it went from what we have in chapter one (go back and have a look, seriously), to the later chapters where i was sat really trying to bring this story together into something of worth. I don't know for sure what happened that caused me to go from writing continually to writing nothing at all, but i think it was because i had myself so convinced that i was in above my head that i believed i actually _couldn't_ finish the story.

I've look back over Written in Sand so many times over the years and just thought 'i can't do anymore with that'. Not because the story was done, but because i believed that _I_ was done. I'd convinced myself that there was nothing more i could give to this story because i was not good enough to do it. So that's how it went for the last 2 and a half years. People read it, reviewed it, liked it, asked me to continue. People emailed me and asked over and over when it was going to be updated and i promised over and over again 'next week' 'next month' 'soon'. I lied. I had given up on my ability to write this story.

And then i got another email. It didn't ask about another update. It didn't moan at me. It asked 'what's wrong'.

I, stupidly, replied 'nothing, why?' and was then verbally backhanded over the course of several days of emailing.

In short, i said what i said above here. That i didn't believe that i could finish this. That i wasn't good enough to continue writing it.  
It was then questioned to me that if that was the case, why had i not passed it on to someone else and asked if they would would continue writing it.  
My answer was that it is mine. This fanfic is my idea, my story - and as such is mine to write, not to pass off to someone else to complete it for me.

'So write it then'.

And you know, for a four word sentence from a stranger - that is probably the best writing advise i've ever been given. Thank you x

**Kitty.x.**

* * *

Her heart was pounding heavily against the inside of her chest, so strong that she felt it might burst out of it completely. The thumping of her blood being forced quicker and quicker through her body echoed in her ears, deafening her to all sound except for the impact of her shoes on the concrete below her. She wondered absently if there was any other sound to hear, but the thought was gone in a second as she forced her aching legs to keep running. Sweeping around a corner she gasped in pain as her left ankle twisted underneath her and caused her to stumble off balance. She briefly anticipated colliding with the floor but was saved from the fall by a rough tug on her wrist that broke her from thoughts. Refocused, she put both feet back under her and kept running, doing her best to ignore the pain shooting through her as she was pulled through the corridors by the dark haired boy in front of her. She was so deeply focussed on running that she had almost forgotten that Sasuke was with her, gripping her hand tightly as he led her through the never-ending corridors.

It seemed her in mind that it could have been hours since she had taken his hand and ran from her makeshift prison. It could have been hours since she glanced back to the blond and the pool of blood on the floor before being pulled away from the scene. She could have been running for hours and hours and hours, but knew that realistically it had only been minutes. Five, maybe ten minutes of running in circles through corridors that she had no hope of navigating.

She watched Sasuke for a moment, as he ran just in front of her, pulling her along with him. Once again she had chosen to trust him when she had little or no reason to do so. He'd done so many things, played so many games, and yet time and time again, after everything that had happened, she found herself falling back into the same situation. Over and over she found herself wondering if he was genuinely her friend, or if it was all part of some greater plot to screw her over... or just screw her. True, from what she'd gathered, he'd acted the way he had just to get the attention of Deidara, but how could she be sure. Why didn't he clue her into this, and how far would he have gone to get someone to come in the room. What if no one _had _come? What if no one had come and Sasuke had been left to do as he pleased? She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer, because right now she was trusting him again and it was her last and only option. She couldn't even think of what she would do if this was just another game he was playing.

Sakura broke from her thoughts to look ahead. They were running towards what looked like a T-junction in the corridor. It was the first they had come to, all other junctions being turns and the occasional crossroad. Did a T-junction mean they were along an edge of the bunker, did it mean they were closer to finding a way out? She still found it odd that none of the doors or corridors had any kind of signs on them. No numbers or names. No real way of finding your way around. Surely even the people working within the walls of the bunker would wind up getting lost with no way to direct themselves. Hell, she hadn't even seen a toilet symbol as they'd ran through the corridors, how did that work?

Sasuke slowed them down as they neared the T-junction, as he had with all the corners and crossroads before it. She expected him to just carry on like he had done each time before so when he suddenly stopped dead in front of her it took every ounce of stopping power for her not just plough straight into him. She skidded for a second on the solid concrete floor before her shoes gripped and brought her to a stop not an inch from Sasuke's back. She was halfway to asking him what he was doing when he suddenly spun around and began quietly pushing her back towards one of the doors they just had gone past. The first was locked but the second door immediately beside it opened with ease into a dark room. Without turning the light on, Sasuke pushed Sakura inside and quickly but quietly closed her door behind them

Once the door was shut the room was the very definition of pitch black. Not a single strand of light seemed to exist within the room and Sakura found herself dealing with a sudden attack of claustrophobia. Blind, she reached out with a hand and hurriedly felt about to find the Uchiha. There was a few terrifying moments where she couldn't find him and her mind half convinced her she was alone before her fingers met fabric and she clutched on to him. She felt his own hand move around to take hers, running his thumb in soothing circles. Regardless of who she was with, she felt better just knowing there was someone else there.

"Sasuke?" She barely whispered it but in the dark silence of the room she may as well shouted.

"I heard voices up ahead. They sounded close." He answered her question as quietly as he had asked it. It was all the explanation she needed for being stood in the dark and she felt her chest ease as the dark hideaway became more of a friend than an enemy. She focussed of controlling her breathing and getting rid of the stitch that had built up in her side from running. Honestly, she'd barely noticed the stitch while she'd been running, more focussed on keeping going and the pain in her ankle. However, now she was still it felt like her lungs were on fire from the lack of oxygen and the stabbing in her side wasn't something that could be ignored, despite the adrenaline flowing through her.

She'd managed maybe a minute of deep steady breathing and the stitch was lessening when she felt Sasuke tense. At first she wasn't sure why and then she heard the faint sound of footsteps in the corridor. Sometime while she was doing her best to breathe normally, whoever Sasuke had heard talking had moved further along towards them. Knowing full well that there was a possibility they had been heard, running wasn't exactly quiet on concrete, she realised that they may well be searching the area. Scared, she tightened her grip on the raven teens hand and received a gentle squeeze before he left go completely. She swapped her grip back to the fabric of his shirt and part of her wondered if he was a scared as she was.

"Sakura, if they come in here, I want you to keep behind me." He whispered into the dark. She was confused for a moment before she heard the sound of the gun being cocked. She felt sick but responded with a quiet ok, barely louder than the silence that rang in their ears.

The steps stayed slow, agonisingly slow as they moved along the corridor that the two teens had just been in. Sakura held her breath as they steps came to a stop just outside the room they were hiding in. She feared for a moment that they'd left a sign of where they had gone but swallowed it down before it became panic. She knew she was shaking terribly. She was terrified that the door would open, all hell would break loose and that she'd still be trapped in the end. She just wanted to be anywhere else in the world, anywhere but some huge concrete maze with no phone signal, the people who abducted her and her ex-boyfriend. She just wanted to go home.

There were several long moments in which nothing happening. There was just complete silence from all directions, and then suddenly the muffled sound of talking from the other side of the door. As with Deidara, she assumed they were using some kind of walk-talkie because she never heard a reply, just the same voice talking again after a pause. The talking-pause-talking went on for the better part of forever before the footsteps started again, slowly at first but then picking up pace and heading in the direction from where Sakura and Sasuke had come from. After an elongated pause Sakura swallowed hard and finally allowed herself a deep relieved breath.

And then the lights switched on.

* * *

"You think this is a good idea?" muttered Genma around a cigarette. Asuma and his two companions had gone to stand outside where they could smoke without being complained at for the smell and health hazards. "They're just kids after all."

"Teenagers, Gen, and if Shika thinks they're good to go, I trust him." He'd half expected it to be Yamato that piped up about the age group of their makeshift troops. When he has told them that they were going to have some assistance, they probably hadn't expected to be leading a school trip. He knew the group was young, but they were no younger than he had been the first time he'd picked up a weapon to defend himself. There was nothing wrong with giving a teenager a gun and asking them to shoot, as long as they knew how to.

"Heh, kids, teenagers, what's the difference? It would just be a real shame if we were to get any of them killed. It would play on my mind, you know?" He took a final drag before dropping the cigarette to the floor and crushing it under a boot. He looked over at Asuma.

"Funny time for you to grow a conscience, but I'm not exactly going to have them wade on into the thick of it." He lit up a second cigarette after finishing his first just before Genma voiced his worry. "We'll take them with us, there's nothing wrong with letting them feel that they're contributing to the rescue effort. In reality they'll be left with the van at least 50 yard from the bunker entrance 'standing guard' while we deal with the issue."

"You didn't mention that part of the plan before." Yamato inputted from a few feet away, outside of the 'smoking area'. Just because he stood outside with them while they fed their habit, it didn't mean he wanted a lung full of smoke as well. Smoking wasn't his thing, never had been, but he could drink both of the other men under the table if he wanted to.

"I was nigh on decapitated when Shikamaru mentioned them not coming at all and then again for refusing to have any girls in the group. My apologies for liking my head right where it is and choosing to keep quiet about exactly what they'll be doing tonight. I'll just leave it until there's no room for argument and abandon them with the van." He grinned from one man to the other, seemingly happy with his plan, and went back to tarring up his insides.

Yamato and Genma shared a look between them but said nothing. They could only imagine the chaos that would ensue one they reached their destination, considering the state of affairs in the dorm as they left it. Once the 5-minute time slot was thrown in there, it had become a hive of activity. Apparently, according to the group, it was better to run around like headless chickens than to organise themselves in an orderly fashion. It was as if some really messed up version of the A-Team was being created in that dorm, especially after Shikamaru pulled out his 'weapons trunk'. All hell would break loose once they found out they weren't actually going _in_ the bunker.

Genma sighed and decided he may as well have another cigarette. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

"We'll let you guys know what happens, ok?" Neji said to the three girls sat on the sofa. While Hinata was more or less resigned to the fact that she was banned from the excursion, Tenten and Ino were not quite so happy about it. Neji could understand why Tenten felt she should be going, considering that she was rather good with her martial arts and throwing knives, but Ino... unless she planned to drown the bad guys in hairspray and nail polish, she had no place at all in the 'going' group. Naruto was perched on the edge of the soft next to the female Hyuga, an arm discretely placed along the back of the sofa behind her. Oddly, he wasn't all that bothered about having to stay with her girls; it gave him something to do and kept his mind quiet. He trusted that those going would get Sakura back in time to cook him breakfast... or punch him in the face for asking. Plus, it meant more time with Hinata, which was always a bonus.

"We will expect prompt updates whenever _anything_ happens, Neji. Don't think for a second that because we're staying behind you can keep us in the dark!" Tenten aimed a glare at the male Hyuga, conveying exactly how annoyed she was with him. While she liked Neji well enough, when he got all manly and commanding she had very limited patience with him.

"I know, don't worry. We'll keep you updated." If he expected her to defrost, he was all out of luck. She glared at him a second longer then preceded to ignore him completely, instead deciding to comment on the colour of Ino's perfectly painted nails. Neji was well aware, from his years of knowing her, that Tenten held no interest in anything girly and held back a noise of exasperation.

"Neji, you ready?" Shikamaru called, leaning through the door from the hallway, a large grey backpack hauled on to one shoulder. The male Hyuga was entirely sure he wanted to know what was in it after witnessing his friends collection of all things deadly. He gave a wave to signal he was coming and realised that everyone except the four in front of him had already left the main room. Hating being waited on, he shot Naruto a look that clearly stated 'watch them' and accepted the blonde sudden grin as an agreement. The last thing he needed was the girls commandeering a car and taking off after them. With one last glance at the girls, he turned, grabbed his jacket, and went to follow the others out of the dorm.

Outside the group stood together around the dorm door, apparently waiting for Asuma to come forward with a plan of action. Neji shut the door behind him and move to stand beside Shika, glancing around the group to see that like him, everyone had opted for a coat or jacket. It wasn't that it was cold out, but there was a persistent breeze which having a few layers compensated for. Everyone in the group was remarkably quiet, waiting for Asuma to finish his quiet conversation with Yamato. After a few moments he nodded and then stepped towards a group, his facial expression saying 'we have a plan' before he say it.

"Ok, it's going to be easier if we all keep together so we're going to take Yamato's van. It's a seven seat 4X4 so we won't have any trou-"

"We need 8 seats." Kankuro interrupted, quickly counting around the group to make sure he wasn't mistaken. "Yeh, we're going to need 8 seats, unless one of us is taking the boot." He grinned at this, secretly imagining then trying to get Gaara in the boot of the van.

Asuma eyed around the group for a moment conducting his own head count and quickly spotted Temari leaning against the wall just behind her two brothers. He shook his head and sighed like a teacher having to repeat themselves for the 5th time. "I said no girls. That included all girls, not just the teenagers. So, as I was saying, it's a 4X4 so we won't have any trou-"

"We'll take my car and follow you, since there's no way I'm sitting in the boot. I need to get my backpack anyway." Temari shifted from the wall and pulled her keys from her coat with a jingle, looking directly at Asuma as she did so. She hadn't let a man tell her what she could and couldn't do since her father went off the rails, and she wasn't about to start now.

Asuma sighed again, looking annoyed. "Temari was it? I'm not going to argue over this while there are more important things to be doing. I don't have girls on my team because I can't deal with the additional drama and right now you're proving my point, so why don't you just go back in the dorm and stay put like the others." He pointed towards the dorm door as if that would emphasise his point and she would do as she was told. Clearly, he hadn't been properly introduced to the pigtailed blonde and Kankuro feared that Asuma would be meeting his sister's fist before those introductions could be made.

"Why don't you go fuck yours-"

"What Temari means to say," Kankuro interrupted "is that while she understands your point of view regarding her gender and the added drama usually associated with it, she is probably better trained in firearms that 80% of this group and has a half a weapons shop in the back of her car, which could be useful. Plus, doing it this way gives us a backup vehicle we can park further away just in case something happens to yours." He put of his best mediating face and ignored the look he was getting from his sister for agreeing that she might cause 'drama'. He'd get a kick in the shin later no doubt.

"You've used a gun before?" Asuma's tone held a note of surprise as he looked at Temari, as though unable to imagine the blonde with any kind of weapon. It wasn't that he was sexist and thought women shouldn't and couldnt handle a firearm... he just knew very few that could.

"Several and often. We're wasting time." She folded her arms in front of her and glared at the older man, paying no attention to the appraising look she was getting from Shikamaru.

"Alright, fine. Jeez. Just stay out of the way and try not to shoot anyone on our side. Get your car and wait at the front gates." He ran a hand through his hair and scratched at the back of his head. Asuma hated dealing with women. So damn stubborn and always _always_ got their own way. "The rest of you are coming in the van." He turned then and fell in step with Genma and Yamato, Shikamaru and Neji following behind all heading in the direction of the campus car park to retrieve the van. No one asked where Temari had actually parked her car, but when Shika turned around to see why they weren't heading the same way, he found that the siblings had already disappeared.

* * *

"Looks like they've gone." Ino said from the front dorm window. She had been checking every few minutes to see if the group was still there or not, but hadn't actually seen them leave. She sighed and flopped down heavily on to the sofa beside Ten-ten, earning a glare when the blade enthusiast almost spilt the orange juice she had acquired from the fridge. The label of 'Neji's Juice, do not use!' meant nothing to her and she'd had half a mind to pour the rest down the sink. Ino sighed again. "What are we going to do now?"

"What can we do?" Muttered Ten-ten, obviously still annoyed at being made to stay behind.

"I don't suppose any of your know if Neji and Shika keep any board games around here?" Naruto asked, already opening the nearest cupboard to investigate its contents. If he'd hoped for dust and old school textbooks he was in the right place.

"I doubt it, unless you count that old chess set Shika got from his dad. We could always take a pair of scissors to Neji's collection of weapons weekly magazines. We could make paper chains out of them and string them around the house." Ten-ten's suggestion was met by surprised looks from the other three in the room, followed by laughter from Naruto who'd apparently missed the part where she was being serious.

"A-are you really that mad at him?" Hinata pressed her two index fingers together in her usual nervous habit.

"Right now? Yes. It's one thing for him to be like that with you Hina, you're his cousin, but I'm his friend and I've beaten him in a match as many times as he's beaten me. I can't believe he'd just leave me sat on the bench like some... _girl._" She glared down at her glass of juice for a second before looking at the female Hyuga "I don't know how you put up with it."

"I'm u-used to it, I guess. H-He just... He likes to protect the p-people he cares about." Hinata wasn't entirely sure how to explain Neji's mindset to her friend. She loved her cousin dearly, but his mannerisms were often a little old fashioned for a lot of people. She knew he saw Ten-ten as a friend and an equal... he just couldn't help wanting to protect her.

"I don't care about his logic right now, and I still won't care when I beat him to death later on."

"Seriously Ten-ten?" Naruto asked, taking a seat on the floor in front of the sofa "You don't think you're being a bit harsh?"

"Sounds like a lovers quarrel to me..." Ino grinned suggestively at Ten-Ten and got a surprised look from the girl before it settled into scowl.

"Whatever, I'm going to go write 'I love Sasuke' in hearts all over his journal to make myself feel better." She stood up and downed the glass of juice before setting it down empty on the table.

"Won't he just buy another one?" Asked Ino, with Naruto nodding his agreement.

"Sure, but his face when he first pulls it out of his bag will be priceless!" Ten-ten grinned at them and then disappeared out of the living area, no doubt on route to carry out her evil plan. The others, with eyebrows raised, seemed to silently ask each other if they should stop her. No one did.

* * *

Thank you also to those of you still reading.  
Those of you who saw this pop up as updated and clicked it.  
Those of you, who after i have failed over and over, are still giving me another chance to not completely fuck this up.


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